[p.352]the early part of his career, the emissaries of a tribe calledthe Benu Abd al-Ashhal came from that town to Meccah, in order to makea treaty with the Kuraysh, and the Apostle seized the opportunity ofpreaching Al-Islam to them. His words were seconded by Ayyas bin Ma'az,a youth of the tribe, and opposed by the chiefs of the embassy; who,however, returned home without pledging themselves to eitherparty.[FN#21] Shortly afterwards a body of the Aus and the Khazraj cameto the pilgrimage of Meccah: when Mohammed began preaching to them,they recognised the person so long expected by the Jews, and swore tohim an oath which is called in Moslem history the "First Fealty of theSteep.[FN#22]"

After the six individuals who had thus pledged themselves returned totheir native city, the event being duly bruited abroad caused such aneffect that, when the next pilgrimage season came, twelve, or accordingto others forty persons, led by As'ad bin Zara[r]ah, accompanied theoriginal converts, and in the same place swore the "Second Fealty ofthe Steep." The Prophet dismissed them in company with one Musab binUmayr, a Meccan, charged to teach them the Koran and their religiousduties, which in those times consisted only of prayer and theProfession of Unity. They arrived at Al-Madinah on a Friday, and thiswas the first day on which the city witnessed the public devotions ofthe Moslems.

After some persecutions, Musab had the fortune to convert a cousin ofAs'ad bin Zararah, a chief of the Aus, Sa'ad bin Ma'az, whoseopposition had been of the fiercest. He persuaded his tribe, the BenuAbd al-Ashhal, to break

[p.353]their idols and openly to profess Al-Islam. The next season,Musab having made many converts, some say seventy, others threehundred, marched from Al-Madinah to Meccah for their pilgrimage; andthere induced his followers to meet the Prophet at midnight upon theSteep near Muna. Mohammed preached to them their duties towards Allahand himself, especially insisting upon the necessity of warring downinfidelity. They pleaded ancient treaties with the Jews of Al-Madinah,and showed apprehension lest the Apostle, after bringing them intodisgrace with their fellows, should desert them and return to the faithof his kinsmen, the Kuraysh. Mohammed, smiling, comforted them with theassurance that he was with them, body and soul, for ever. Upon thisthey asked him what would be their reward if slain. He replied,"Gardens 'neath which the streams flow,"-that is to say, Paradise.

Then, in spite of the advice of Al-Abbas, Mohammed's uncle, who wasloud in his denunciations, they bade the Preacher stretch out his hand,and upon it swore the oath known as the "Great Fealty of the Steep."After comforting them with an Ayat, or Koranic verse, which promisedheaven, the Apostle divided his followers into twelve bodies; andplacing a chief at the head of each,[FN#23] dismissed them to theirhomes. He rejected the offer made by one of the party-namely, to slayall the idolaters present at the pilgrimage-saying that Allah hadfavoured him with no such order. For the same reason he refused theirinvitation to visit Al-Madinah, which was the principal object of theirmission; and he then took an affectionate leave of them.

[p.354]Two months and a half after the events above detailed, Mohammedreceived the inspired tidings that Al-Madinah of the Hijaz was hispredestined asylum. In anticipation of the order, for as yet the timehad not been revealed, he sent forward his friends, among whom wereOmar, Talhah, and Hamzah, retaining with him Abu Bakr[FN#24] and Ali.The particulars of the Flight, that eventful accident to Al-Islam, aretoo well known to require mention here; besides which they belongrather to the category of general than of Madinite history.

Mohammed was escorted into Al-Madinah by one Buraydat al-Aslami andeighty men of the same tribe, who had been offered by the Kuraysh ahundred camels for the capture of the fugitives. But Buraydat, afterlistening to their terms, accidentally entered into conversation withMohammed; and no sooner did he hear the name of his interlocutor, thanhe professed the faith of Al-Islam. He then prepared for the Apostle astandard by attaching his turband to a spear, and anxiously inquiredwhat house was to be honoured by the presence of Allah's chosenservant. "Whichever," replied Mohammed, "this she-camel[FN#25] isordered to show me." At the last

[p.355]halting-place, he accidentally met some of his disciplesreturning from a trading voyage to Syria; they dressed him and hiscompanion Abu Bakr in white clothing which, it is said, caused thepeople of Kuba to pay a mistaken reverence to the latter. The Moslemsof Al-Madinah were in the habit of repairing every morning to theheights near the city, looking out for the Apostle; and, when the sunwaxed hot, they returned home. One day, about noon, a Jew, whodiscovered the retinue from afar, suddenly warned the nearest party ofAnsar, or Auxiliaries of Al-Madinah, that the fugitive was come. Theysnatched up their arms and hurried from their houses to meet him.

Mohammed's she-camel advanced to the centre of the then flourishingtown of Kuba. There she suddenly knelt upon a place which is nowconsecrated ground; at that time it was an open space, belonging, theysay, to Abu Ayyub the Ansari, who had a house there near the abodes ofthe Benu Amr bin Auf. This event happened on the first day of the week,the twelfth of the month Rabia al-Awwal[FN#26] (June 28, A.D. 622), inthe first year of the Flight: for which reason Monday, which alsowitnessed the birth, the mission, and the death of the Prophet, is anauspicious day to Al-Islam.

After halting two days in the house of Kulsum bin Hadmah at Kuba, andthere laying the foundation of the

[p.356]first Mosque upon the lines where his she-camel trod, theApostle was joined by Ali, who had remained at Meccah, for the purposeof returning certain trusts and deposits committed to Mohammed'scharge. He waited three days longer; on Friday morning (the 16th Rabiaal-Awwal, A.H. 1,=2nd July, A.D. 622), about sunrise he mountedAl-Kaswa, and, accompanied by a throng of armed Ansar on foot and onhorseback, he took the way to the city. At the hour of publicprayer,[FN#27] he halted in the Wady or valley near Kuba, upon the spotwhere the Masjid al-Jum'ah now stands, performed his devotions, andpreached an eloquent sermon. He then remounted. Numbers pressed forwardto offer him hospitality; he blessed them, and bade them stand out ofthe way, declaring that Al-Kaswa would halt of her own accord at thepredestined spot. He then advanced to where the Apostle's pulpit nowstands. There the she-camel knelt, and the rider exclaimed, as oneinspired, "This is our place, if Almighty Allah please!"

Descending from Al-Kaswa, he recited, "O Lord, cause me to alight agood Alighting, and Thou art the Best of those who cause to alight!"Presently the camel rose unaided, advanced a few steps, and then,according to some, returning, sat down upon her former seat; accordingto others, she knelt at the door of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, whose abode inthose days was the nearest to the halting-place. The descendant of theJewish High Priest in the time of the Tobbas, with the Apostle'spermission, took the baggage off the camel, and carried it into hishouse. Then ensued great rejoicings. The Abyssinians came and playedwith their spears. The

[p.357]maidens of the Benu Najjar tribe sang and beat theirkettle-drums. And all the wives of the Ansar celebrated with shrillcries of joy the auspicious event; whilst the males, young and old,freemen and slaves, shouted with effusion, "Allah's Messenger is come!Allah's Messenger is here!"

Mohammed caused Abu Ayyub and his wife to remove into the upper story,contenting himself with the humbler lower rooms. This was done for thegreater convenience of receiving visitors without troubling the family;but the master of the house was thereby rendered uncomfortable in mind.His various remarks about the Apostle's diet and domestic habits,especially his avoiding leeks, onions, and garlic,[FN#28] are gravelychronicled by Moslem authors.

After spending seven months, more or less, at the house of Abu Ayyub,Mohammed, now surrounded by his wives and family, built, close to theMosque, huts for their reception. The ground was sold to him by Sahaland Suhayl, two orphans of the Benu Najjar,[FN#29] a noble family ofthe Khazraj. Some time afterwards one Harisat bin al-Nu'uman presentedto the Prophet all his houses in the vicinity of the temple. In thosedays the habitations of the Arabs were made of a framework of Jarid orpalm sticks, covered over with a cloth of camel's hair, a curtain ofsimilar stuff forming the door. The more splendid had walls of unbakedbrick, and roofs of palm fronds plastered

[p.358]over with mud or clay. Of this description were the abodes ofMohammed's family. Most of them were built on the North and East of theMosque, which had open ground on the Western side; and the doors lookedtowards the place of prayer. In course of time, all, except AbuBakr[FN#30] and Ali, were ordered to close their doors, and even Omarwas refused the favour of having a window opening into the temple.

Presently the Jews of Al-Madinah, offended by the conduct of Abdullahbin Salam, their most learned priest and a descendant from thePatriarch Joseph, who had become a convert to the Moslem dispensation,began to plot against Mohammed.[FN#31] They were headed by Hajj binAkhtah, and his brother Yasir bin Akhtah, and were joined by many ofthe Aus and the Khazraj. The events that followed this combination ofthe Munafikun, or Hypocrites, under their chief, Abdullah, belong tothe domain of Arabian history.[FN#32]

Mohammed spent the last ten years of his life at Al-Madinah. He died onMonday, some say at nine A.M., others at noon, others a little after,on the twelfth of Rabia al-Awwal in the eleventh year of the Hijrah.When his family and companions debated where he should be buried, Aliadvised Al-Madinah, and Abu Bakr, Ayishah's chamber,

[p.359]quoting a saying of the deceased that prophets and martyrs arealways interred where they happen to die. The Apostle was placed, it issaid, under the bed where he had given up the ghost, by Ali and the twosons of Abbas, who dug the grave. With the life of Mohammed theinterest of Al-Madinah ceases, or rather is concentrated in the historyof its temple. Since then the city has passed through the hands of theCaliphs, the Sharifs of Meccah, the Sultans of Constantinople, theWahhabis, and the Egyptians. It has now reverted to the Sultan, whosegovernment is beginning to believe that, in these days when religiousprestige is of little value, the great Khan's title, "Servant of theHoly Shrines," is purchased at too high a price. As has before beenobserved, the Turks now struggle for existence in Al-Hijaz with asoldier ever in arrears, and officers unequal to the task of managingan unruly people. The pensions are but partly paid,[FN#33] and they arenot likely to increase with years. It is probably a mere considerationof interest that prevents the people rising en masse,

[p.360]and re-asserting the liberties of their country. And I haveheard from authentic sources that the Wahhabis look forward to the daywhen a fresh crusade will enable them to purge the land of itsabominations in the shape of silver and gold.

The Masjid al-Nabi, or Prophet's Mosque, is the second in Al-Islam inpoint of seniority, and the second, or, according to others, the firstin dignity, ranking with the Ka'abah itself. It is erected around thespot where the she-camel, Al-Kaswa, knelt down by the order of Heaven.At that time the land was a palm grove and a Mirbad, or place wheredates are dried. Mohammed, ordered to erect a place of worship there,sent for the youths to whom it belonged, and certain Ansar, orAuxiliaries, their guardians; the ground was offered to him in freegift, but he insisted upon purchasing it, paying more than its value.Having caused the soil to be levelled and the trees to be felled, helaid the foundation of the first Mosque.

In those times of primitive simplicity its walls were made of roughstone and unbaked bricks: trunks of date-trees supported a palm-stickroof, concerning which the Archangel Gabriel delivered an order that itshould not be higher than seven cubits, the elevation of Moses'stemple. All ornament was strictly forbidden. The Ansar, or men ofAl-Madinah, and the Muhajirin, or Fugitives from Meccah, carried thebuilding materials in their arms from the cemetery Al-Bakia, near thewell of Ayyub, north of the spot where Ibrahim's Mosque now stands, andthe Apostle was to be seen aiding them in their labours, and recitingfor their encouragement,

"O Allah! there is no good but the good of futurity,Then have mercy upon my Ansar and Muhajirin!"

The length of this Mosque was fifty-four cubits from North to South,and sixty-three in breadth, and it was hemmed in by houses on all sidessave the Western. Till the seventeenth

[p.361]month of the new aera the congregation faced towards theNorthern wall. After that time a fresh revelation turned them in thedirection of Meccah, Southwards: on which occasion the ArchangelGabriel descended and miraculously opened through the hills and wilds aview of the Ka'abah, that there might be no difficulty in ascertainingits true position.

After the capture of Khaybar in A.H. 7, the Prophet and his first threesuccessors restored the Mosque, but Moslem historians do not considerthis a second foundation. Mohammed laid the first brick, and AbuHurayrah declares that he saw him carry heaps of building materialspiled up to his breast. The Caliphs, each in the turn of hissuccession, placed a brick close to that laid by the Prophet, and aidedhim in raising the walls. Al-Tabrani relates that one of the Ansar hada house adjacent which Mohammed wished to make part of the place ofprayer; the proprietor was promised in exchange for it a home inParadise, which he gently rejected, pleading poverty. His excuse wasadmitted, and Osman, after purchasing the place for ten thousanddirhams, gave it to the Apostle on the long credit originally offered.

This Mosque was a square of a hundred cubits. Like the former building,it had three doors: one on the South side, where the Mihrab al-Nabawi,or the "Prophet's Niche," now is; another in the place of the presentBab al-Rahmah; and the third at the Bab Osman, now called the Gate ofGabriel. Instead of a Mihrab or prayer-niche,[FN#34] a large block ofstone directed the congregation; at first it was placed against theNorthern wall

[p.362]of the Mosque, and it was removed to the Southern when Meccahbecame the Kiblah.

In the beginning the Prophet, whilst preaching the Khutbah or Fridaysermon, leaned when fatigued against a post.[FN#35] The Mambar,[FN#36]or pulpit, was the invention of a Madinah man, of the Benu Najjar. Itwas a wooden frame, two cubits long by one broad, with three steps,each one span high; on the topmost of these the Prophet sat when herequired rest. The pulpit assumed its present form about A.H. 90,during the artistic reign of Al-Walid.

In this Mosque Mohammed spent the greater part of the day[FN#37] withhis companions, conversing, instructing, and

[p.363]comforting the poor. Hard by were the abodes of his wives, hisfamily, and his principal friends. Here he prayed, at the call of theAzan, or devotion-cry, from the roof. Here he received worldly envoysand embassies, and the heavenly messages conveyed by the ArchangelGabriel. And within a few yards of the hallowed spot, he died, andfound a grave.

The theatre of events so important to Al-Islam could not beallowed-specially as no divine decree forbade the change-to remain inits pristine lowliness. The first Caliph contented himself with merelyrestoring some of the palm pillars, which had fallen to the ground:Omar, the second successor, surrounded the Hujrah, or Ayishah'schamber, in which the Prophet was buried, with a mud wall; and in A.H.17, he enlarged the Mosque to 140 cubits by 120, taking in ground onall sides except the Eastern, where stood the abodes of the "Mothers ofthe Moslems.[FN#38]" Outside the Northern wall he erected a Suffah,called Al-Batha-a raised bench of wood, earth, or stone, upon which thepeople might recreate themselves with conversation and quoting poetry,for the Mosque was now becoming [a] place of peculiar reverence tomen.[FN#39]

The second Masjid was erected A.H. 29, by the third Caliph, Osman, who,regardless of the clamours of the people, overthrew the old walls andextended the building

[p.364]greatly towards the North, and a little towards the West; but hedid not remove the Eastern limit on account of the private houses. Hemade the roof of Indian teak,[FN#40] and the walls of hewn and carvedstone. These innovations caused some excitement, which he allayed byquoting a tradition of the Prophet, with one of which he appearsperpetually to have been prepared. The saying in question was,according to some, "Were this my Mosque extended to Safa"-a hill inMeccah-"it verily would still be my Mosque"; according to others, "Werethe Prophet's Mosque extended to Zu'l Halifah[FN#41] it would still behis." But Osman's skill in the quotation of tradition did not preventthe new building being in part a cause of his death. It was finished onthe first Muharram, A.H. 30.

At length, Al-Islam, grown splendid and powerful, determined to surpassother nations in the magnificence of its public buildings.[FN#42] InA.H. 88, Al-Walid[FN#43] the First, twelfth Caliph of the Benu Ummayahrace, after building, or rather restoring, the noble "Jami' al-Ammawi"(cathedral of the Ommiades) at Damascus, determined to

[p.365]display his liberality at Al-Madinah. The governor of the place,Umar bin Abd Al-Aziz, was directed to buy for seven thousand Dinars(ducats) all the hovels of raw brick that hedged in the Eastern side ofthe old Mosque. They were inhabited by descendants of the Prophet andof the early Caliphs, and in more than one case, the ejection of theholy tenantry was effected with considerable difficulty. Some of thewomen-ever the most obstinate on such occasions-refused to take money,and Omar was forced to the objectionable measure of turning them out ofdoors with exposed faces[FN#45] in full day. The Greek Emperor, appliedto by the magnificent Caliph, sent immense presents, silver lampchains, valuable curiosities,[FN#46] forty loads of small cut stonesfor pietra-dura, and a sum of eighty thousand Dinars, or, as otherssay, forty thousand Miskals of gold. He also despatched forty Copticand forty Greek artists to carve the marble pillars and the casings ofthe walls, and to superintend the gilding and the mosaic work. One ofthese Christians was beheaded for sculpturing a hog on the Kiblah wall;and another, in an attempt to defile the roof, fell to the ground, andhis brains were dashed out. The remainder Islamized, but this did notprevent the older Arabs murmuring that their Mosque had been turnedinto a Kanisah, a Christian idol-house.

The Hujrah, or chamber, where, by Mohammed's permission, Azrail, theAngel of Death, separated his

[p.366]soul from his body, whilst his head was lying in the lap ofAyishah, his favourite wife, was now for the first time taken into theMosque. The raw-brick enceinte[FN#46] which surrounded the three graveswas exchanged for one of carved stone, enclosed by an outer precinctwith a narrow passage between.[FN#47] These double walls were eitherwithout a door, or had only a small blocked-up wicket on the Northernside, and from that day (A.H. 90), no one, says Al-Samanhudi, has beenable to approach the sepulchre.[FN#48] A minaret was erected at eachcorner of the Mosque.[FN#49] The building was enlarged to 200 cubits by167, and was finished in A.H. 91. When Al-Walid, the Caliph, visited itin state, he inquired of his lieutenant why greater magnificence hadnot been displayed in the erection; upon which Omar, the governor,informed him,

[p.367]to his astonishment, that the walls alone had cost forty-fivethousand ducats.[FN#50]

The fourth Mosque was erected in A.H. 191, by Al-Mahdi, third prince ofthe Benu Abbas or Baghdad Caliphs-celebrated in history only forspending enormous sums upon a pilgrimage. He enlarged the building byadding ten handsome pillars of carved marble, with gilt capitals, onthe Northern side. In A.H. 202, Al-Ma'amun made further additions tothis Mosque. It was from Al-Mahdi's Masjid that Al-Hakim bi'Amri 'llah,the third Fatimite Caliph of Egypt, and the deity of the Druze sect,determined to steal the bodies of the Prophet and his two companions.About A.H. 412, he sent emissaries to Al-Madinah: the attempt, however,failed, and the would-be violators of the tomb lost their lives. It isgenerally supposed that Al-Hakim's object was to transfer theVisitation to his own capital; but in one so manifestly insane it isdifficult to discover the spring of action. Two Christians, habitedlike Maghrabi pilgrims, in A.H. 550, dug a mine from a neighbouringhouse into the temple. They were discovered, beheaded, and burned toashes. In relating these events the Moslem historians mix up manyfoolish preternaturalisms with credible matter. At last, to prevent arecurrence of such sacrilegious attempts, Al-Malik al-Adil Nur al-Dinof the Baharite Mamluk Sultans, or, according to others, Sultan Nural-Din Shahid Mahmud bin Zangi, who, warned by a vision of the Apostle,had started for Al-Madinah only in time to discover the two Christians,surrounded the holy place with a deep trench filled with molten lead.By this means Abu Bakr and Omar, who had run considerable risks oftheir own, have ever since been enabled to occupy their last homesundisturbed.

In A.H. 654, the fifth Mosque was erected in consequence of a fire,which some authors attribute to a

[p.368]volcano that broke out close to the town in terribleeruption[FN#51]; others, with more fanaticism and less probability, tothe schismatic Benu Husayn, then the guardians of the tomb. On thisoccasion the Hujrah was saved, together with the old and venerablecopies of the Koran there deposited, especially the Cufic MSS., writtenby Osman, the third Caliph. The piety of three sovereigns, Al-Mustasim(last Caliph of Baghdad), Al-Muzaffar Shems al-Din Yusuf, chief ofAl-Yaman, and Al-Zahir Beybars, Baharite Sultan of Egypt, completed thework in A.H. 688. This building was enlarged and beautified by theprinces of Egypt, and lasted upwards of two hundred years.

The sixth Mosque was built, almost as it now stands, by Kaid-Bey,nineteenth Sultan of the Circassian Mamluk kings of Egypt, in A.H. 888:it is now therefore more than four centuries old. Al-Mustasim's Mosquehad been struck by lightning during a storm; thirteen men were killedat prayers, and the destroying element spared nothing but the interiorof the Hujrah.[FN#52] The railing and dome were restored; niches and apulpit were sent from Cairo, and the gates and minarets weredistributed as they are now. Not content with this, Kaid-Beyestablished "Wakf" (bequests) and pensions, and introduced order amongthe attendants on the tomb. In the tenth century, Sultan Sulayman theMagnificent paved with fine white marble the Rauzah or garden, whichKaid-Bey, not daring to alter, had left of earth, and erected the fineminaret that bears his name.

[p.369]During the dominion of the later Sultans, and of Mohammed Ali, afew trifling presents, of lamps, carpets, wax candles and chandeliers,and a few immaterial alterations, have been made. The present head ofAl-Islam is, as I have before said, rebuilding one of the minarets andthe Northern colonnade of the temple.

Such is the history of the Mosque's prosperity.

During the siege of Al-Madinah by the Wahhabis,[FN#53] the principalpeople seized and divided amongst themselves the treasures of the tomb,which must have been considerable. When the town surrendered, Sa'ud,accompanied by his principal officers, entered the Hujrah, but,terrified by dreams, he did not penetrate behind the curtain, orattempt to see the tomb. He plundered, however, the treasures in thepassage, the "Kaukab al-Durri[FN#54]" (or pearl star), and theornaments sent as presents from every part of Al-Islam. Part of thesehe sold, it is said, for 150,000 Riyals (dollars), to Ghalib, Sharif ofMeccah, and the rest he carried with him to Daraiyah, hiscapital.[FN#55] An accident prevented any further desecration of thebuilding. The greedy Wahhabis, allured by the appearance of the goldenor gilt globes and crescents surmounting the green dome, attempted tothrow down the latter. Two of their number, it is said, were killed byfalling

[p.370]from the slippery roof,[FN#56] and the rest, struck bysuperstitious fears, abandoned the work of destruction. They injured,however, the prosperity of the place by taxing the inhabitants, byinterrupting the annual remittances, and by forbidding visitors toapproach the tomb. They are spoken of with abhorrence by the people,who quote a peculiarly bad trait in their characters, namely, that inreturn for any small religious assistance of prayer or recitation, theywere in the habit of giving a few grains of gunpowder, or somethingequally valuable, instead of "stone-dollars.[FN#57]"

When Abdullah, son of Sa'ud, had concluded in A.D. 1815 a treaty ofpeace with Tussun Pasha, the Egyptian General bought back from thetownspeople, for 10,000 Riyals, all the golden vessels that had notbeen melted down, and restored the treasure to its original place. ThisI have heard denied; at the same time it rests upon credible evidence.Amongst Orientals the events of the last generation are, usuallyspeaking, imperfectly remembered, and the Olema are well acquaintedwith the history of vicissitudes which took place 1200 years ago, whenprofoundly ignorant of what their grandfathers witnessed. Manyincredible tales also I heard concerning the present wealth of theAl-Madinah Mosque: this must be expected when the exaggeration isconsidered likely to confer honour upon the exaggerator.

The establishment attached to the Al-Madinah Mosque is greatly alteredsince Burckhardt's time,[FN#58] the result of the increasing influenceof the Turkish half-breeds

[p.371]It is still extensive, because in the first place the principleof divided labour is a favourite throughout the East, and secondlybecause the Sons of the Holy Cities naturally desire to extract as muchas they can from the Sons of other cities with the least amount ofwork. The substance of the following account was given to me by OmarEffendi, and I compared it with the information of others upon whom Icould rely.

The principal of the Mosque, or Shaykh al-Harim, is no longer aneuter.[FN#59] The present is a Turkish Pasha, Osman, appointed fromConstantinople with a salary of about 30,000 piastres a month. His Naibor deputy is a black eunuch, the chief of the Aghawat,[FN#60] upon apay of 5000 piastres. The present principal of this college is oneTayfur Agha, a slave of Esma Sultanah, sister to the late SultanMahmud. The chief treasurer is called the Mudir al-Harim; he keeps aneye upon the Khaznadar, or treasurer, whose salary is 2000 piastres.The Mustaslim is the chief of the Katibs, or writers who settle the

[p.372]accounts of the Mosque; his pay is 1500, and under him is aNakib or assistant upon 1000 piastres. There are three Shaykhs of theeunuchs who receive from 700 to 1000 piastres a month each. Theeunuchs, about a hundred and twenty in number, are divided into threeorders. The Bawwabin, or porters, open the doors of the Mosque. TheKhubziyah sweep the purer parts of the temple, and the lowest order,popularly called "Battalin," clean away all impurities, beat thosefound sleeping, and act as beadles, a duty here which involvesconsiderable use of the cane. These men receive as perquisites presentsfrom each visitor when they offer him the usual congratulation, and forother small favours, such as permitting strangers to light thelamps,[FN#61] or to sweep the floor. Their pay varies from 250 to 500piastres a month: they are looked upon as honourable men, and are,generally speaking, married, some of them indulging in three or fourwives,-which would have aroused Juvenal's bile. The Agha's character iscurious and exceptional as his outward conformation. Disconnected withhumanity, he is cruel, fierce, brave, and capable of any villany. Hisframe is unnaturally long and lean, especially the arms and legs, withhigh shoulders, protruding joints, and a face by contrastextraordinarily large; he is unusually expert in the use of weapons,and sitting well "home," he rides to admiration, his hoarse, thickvoice investing him with all the circumstances of command.

Besides the eunuchs, there are a number of free servants, calledFarrashin, attached to the Mosque; almost all the middle and lowerclass of citizens belong to this order. They are divided into partiesof thirty each, and are changed every week, those on duty receiving aGhazi or twenty-two piastres for their services. Their business

[p.373]is to dust, and to spread the carpets, to put oil and wicks intothe lamps which the eunuchs let down from the ceiling, and, generallyspeaking, diligently to do nothing.

Finally, the menial establishment of the Mosque consists of a Shaykhal-Sakka (chief of the water-carriers), under whom are from forty-fiveto fifty men who sprinkle the floors, water the garden, and, for aconsideration, supply a cupful of brackish liquid to visitors.

The literary establishment is even more extensive than the executiveand the menial. There is a Kazi, or chief judge, sent every year fromConstantinople. After twelve months at Al-Madinah, he passes on toMeccah, and returns home after a similar term of service in the secondHoly City. Under him are three Muftis,[FN#62] of the Hanafi, theShafe'i, and the Maliki schools; the fourth, or Hanbali, is notrepresented here or at Cairo.[FN#63] Each of these officers receives aspay about two hundred and fifty piastres a month. The Ruasa,[FN#64] asthe Mu'ezzins (prayer-callers) here call themselves, are extensivelyrepresented; there are forty-eight or forty-nine of the lowest order,presided over by six Kubar or Masters, and these again are under theShaykh al-Ruasa, who alone has the privilege of calling to prayers fromthe Raisiyah minaret. The Shaykh receives a hundred and fifty piastres,the chiefs about a hundred, and the common criers sixty; there are

[p.374]forty-five Khatibs, who preach and pray before the congregationon Fridays for a hundred and twenty piastres a month; they are underthe Shaykh al-Khutaba. About the same sum is given to seventy-fiveImams, who recite the five ordinary prayers of every day in the Mosque;the Shaykh al-Aimmat is their superior.[FN#65]

Almost all the citizens of Al-Madinah who have not some official chargeabout the temple qualify themselves to act as Muzawwirs. They begin asboys to learn the formula of prayer, and the conducting of visitors;and partly by begging, partly by boldness, they often pick up atolerable livelihood at an early age. The Muzawwir will often receivestrangers into his house, as was done to me, and direct their devotionsduring the whole time of their stay. For such service he requires a sumof money proportioned to his guests' circumstances, but this fee doesnot end the connexion. If the Muzawwir visit the home of his Zair, heexpects to be treated with the utmost hospitality, and to depart with ahandsome present. A religious visitor will often transmit to hiscicerone at Meccah and at Al-Madinah yearly sums to purchase forhimself a prayer at the Ka'abah and the Prophet's Tomb. The remittanceis usually wrapped up in paper, and placed in a sealed leathern bag,somewhat like a portfolio, upon which is worked the name of the personentitled to receive it. It is then given in charge either to atrustworthy pilgrim, or to the public treasurer, who accompanies theprincipal caravans.

I could procure no exact information about the amount of moneyforwarded every year from Constantinople and Cairo to Al-Madinah; theonly point upon which men seemed to agree was that they were defraudedof half their dues. When the Sadaka and Aukaf (the alms and bequests)arrive at the town, they are committed by the Surrah, or

[p.375]financier of the caravan, to the Muftis, the chief of theKhatibs, and the Kazi's clerk. These officers form a committee, andafter reckoning the total of the families entitled to pensions, dividethe money amongst them, according to the number in each household, andthe rank of the pensioners. They are divided into five orders:-The Olema, or learned, and the Mudarrisin, who profess, lecture, orteach adults in the Harim.The Imams and Khatibs.The descendants of the Prophet.The Fukaha, poor divines, pedadogues, gerund-grinders, who teach boysto read the Koran.The Awam, or nobile vulgus of the Holy City, including the Ahali, orburghers of the town, and the Mujawirin, or those settled in the place.Omar Effendi belonged to the second order, and he informed me that hisshare varied from three to fifteen Riyals per annum.

[FN#1] In Oriental geography the parasang still, as in the days ofPliny, greatly varies, from 1500 to 6000 yards. Captain Francklin,whose opinion is generally taken, makes it (in his Tour to Persia) ameasure of about four miles (Preface to Ibn Haukal, by Sir GoreOuseley).[FN#2] M.C. de Perceval (Essai sur l'Histoire des Arabes avantl'Islamisme), makes Amlak son of Laoud (Lud), son of Shem, or,according to others, son of Ham. That learned writer identifies theAmalik with the Phoenicians, the Amalekites, the Canaanites, and theHyksos. He alludes, also, to an ancient tradition which makes them tohave colonised Barbary in Africa.[FN#3] The Dabistan al-Mazahib relates a tradition that the Almighty,when addressing the angels in command, uses the Arabic tongue, but whenspeaking in mercy or beneficence, the Deri dialect of Persian.[FN#4] These were the giants who fought against Israel in Palestine.[FN#5] In this wild tradition we find a confirmation of the soundgeographical opinion which makes Arabia "Une des pepinieres du genrehumain" (M. Jomard). It must be remembered that the theatre of allearliest civilisation has been a fertile valley with a navigablestream, like Sind, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The existence of such a spotin Arabia would have altered every page of her history; she would thenhave become a centre, not a source, of civilisation. Strabo's Malothesriver in Al-Yaman is therefore a myth. As it is, the immense populationof the peninsula-still thick, even in the deserts-has, from theearliest ages, been impelled by drought, famine, or desire of conquest,to emigrate into happier regions. All history mentions two main streamswhich took their rise in the wilds. The first set to the North-East,through Persia, Mekran, Baluchistan, Sind, and the Afghan Mountains, asfar as Samarkand, Bokhara, and Tibet; the other, flowing towards theNorth-West, passed through Egypt and Barbary into Etruria, Spain, theIsles of the Mediterranean, and Southern France. There are two minoremigrations chronicled in history, and written in the indeliblecharacters of physiognomy and philology. One of these set in anexiguous but perennial stream towards India, especially Malabar, where,mixing with the people of the country, the Arab merchants became theprogenitors of the Moplah race. The other was a partial emigration,also for commercial purposes, to the coast of Berberah, in EasternAfrica, where, mixing with the Galla tribes, the people of Hazramautbecame the sires of the extensive Somali and Sawahil nations. Thus wehave from Arabia four different lines of emigration, tending N.E. andS.E., N.W. and S.W. At some future time I hope to develop this curiousbut somewhat obscure portion of Arabian history. It bears upon a mostinteresting subject, and serves to explain, by the consanguinity ofraces, the marvellous celerity with which the faith of Al-Islam spreadfrom the Pillars of Hercules to the confines of China-embracing part ofSouthern Europe, the whole of Northern and a portion of Central Africa,and at least three-fourths of the continent of Asia.[FN#6] Of this name M.C. de Perceval remarks, "Le mot Arcam etait unedesignation commune a tous ces rois." He identifies it with Rekem(Numbers xxxi. 8), one of the kings of the Midianites; and recognisesin the preservation of the royal youth the history of Agag and Samuel.[FN#7] And some most ignorantly add, "after the entrance of Moses intothe Promised Land."[FN#8] In those days, we are told, the Jews, abandoning their originalsettlement in Al-Ghabbah or the low lands to the N. of the town,migrated to the highest portions of the Madinah plain on the S. and E.,and the lands of the neighbourhood of the Kuba Mosque.[FN#9] When describing Ohod, I shall have occasion to allude to Aaron'sdome, which occupies the highest part. Few authorities, however,believe that Aaron was buried there; his grave, under a small stonecupola, is shown over the summit of Mount Hor, in the SinaiticPeninsula, and is much visited by devotees.[FN#10] It must be remembered that many of the Moslem geographersderive the word "Arabia" from a tract of land in the neighbourhood ofAl-Madinah.[FN#11] Khaybar in Hebrew is supposed to signify a castle. D'Herbelotmakes it to mean a pact or association of the Jews against the Moslems.This fort appears to be one of the latest as well as the earliest ofthe Hebrew settlements in Al-Hijaz. Benjamin of Tudela asserts thatthere were 50,000 Jews resident at their old colony, Bartema in A.D.1703 found remnants of the people there, but his account of them isdisfigured by fable. In Niebuhr's time the Beni Khaybar had independentShaykhs, and were divided into three tribes, viz., the Benu Masad, theBenu Shahan, and the Benu Anizah (this latter, however, is a Moslemname), who were isolated and hated by the other Jews, and therefore thetraveller supposes them to have been Karaites. In Burckhardt's day therace seems to have been entirely rooted out. I made many inquiries, andall assured me that there is not a single Jewish family now in Khaybar.It is indeed the popular boast in Al-Hijaz, that, with the exception ofJeddah (and perhaps Yambu', where the Prophet never set his foot),there is not a town in the country harbouring an Infidel. This has nowbecome a point of fanatic honour; but if history may be trusted, it hasbecome so only lately.[FN#12] When the Arabs see the ass turn tail to the wind and rain, theyexclaim, "Lo! he turneth his back upon the mercy of Allah!"[FN#13] M.C. de Perceval quotes Judith, ii. 13, 26, and Jeremiah, xlix.28, to prove that Holofernes, the general of Nebuchadnezzar the First,laid waste the land of Midian and other parts of Northern Arabia.[FN#14] Saba in Southern Arabia.[FN#15] The erection of this dyke is variously attributed to Lukman theElder (of the tribe of Ad) and to Saba bin Yashjab. It burst accordingto some, beneath the weight of a flood; according to others, it wasmiraculously undermined by rats. A learned Indian Shaykh has mistakenthe Arabic word "Jurad," a large kind of mouse or rat, for "Jarad," alocust, and he makes the wall to have sunk under a "bar i Malakh," orweight of locusts! No event is more celebrated in the history of paganArabia than this, or more trustworthy, despite the exaggeration of thedetails-the dyke is said to have been four miles long by four broad-andthe fantastic marvels which are said to have accompanied its bursting.The ruins have lately been visited by M. Arnaud, a French traveller,who communicated his discovery to the French Asiatic Society in 1845.[FN#16] Ma al-Sama, "the water (or "the splendour") of heaven," is,generally speaking, a feminine name amongst the pagan Arabs; possiblyit is here intended as a matronymic.[FN#17] This expedition to Al-Madinah is mentioned by all thepre-Islamatic historians, but persons and dates are involved in thegreatest confusion. Some authors mention two different expeditions bydifferent Tobbas; others only one, attributing it differently, however,to two Tobbas,-Abu Karb in the 3rd century of the Christian era, andTobba al-Asghar, the last of that dynasty, who reigned, according tosome, in A.D. 300, according to others in A.D. 448. M.C. de Percevalplaces the event about A.D. 206, and asserts that the Aus and Khazrajdid not emigrate to Al-Madinah before A.D. 300. The word Tobba orTubba, I have been informed by some of the modern Arabs, is still usedin the Himyaritic dialect of Arabic to signify "the Great" or "theChief."[FN#18] Nothing is more remarkable in the annals of the Arabs thantheir efforts to prove the Ishmaelitic descent of Mohammed; at the sametime no historic question is more open to doubt.[FN#19] If this be true it proves that the Jews of Al-Hijaz had inthose days superstitious reverence for the Ka'abah; otherwise theTobba, after conforming to the law of Moses, would not have shown itthis mark of respect. Moreover there is a legend that the same Rabbisdissuaded the Tobba from plundering the sacred place when he wastreacherously advised so to do by the Benu Hudayl Arabs. I have latelyperused "The Worship of Ba'alim in Israel," based upon the work of Dr.R. Dozy, "The Israelites in Mecca." By Dr. H. Oort. Translated from theDutch, and enlarged, with Notes and Appendices, by the Right Rev. JohnWilliam Colenso, D.D. (Longmans.) I see no reason why Meccah or Beccahshould be made to mean "A Slaughter"; why the Ka'abah should be foundedby the Simeonites; why the Hajj should be the Feast of Trumpets; andother assertions in which everything seems to be taken for grantedexcept etymology, which is tortured into confession. If Meccah had beenfounded by the Simeonites, why did the Persians and the Hindus respectit?[FN#20] It is curious that Abdullah, Mohammed's father, died and wasburied at Al-Madinah, and that his mother Aminah's tomb is at Abwa, onthe Madinah road. Here, too, his great-grandfather Hashim married SalmaAl-Mutadalliyah, before him espoused to Uhayhah, of the Aus tribe.Shaybah, generally called Abd al-Muttalib, the Prophet's grandfather,was the son of Salma, and was bred at Al-Madinah.[FN#21] Ayyas bin Ma'az died, it is said, a Moslem.[FN#22] "Bayat al-Akabat al-ula." It is so called because this oath wassworn at a place called Al-Akabah (the Mountain-road), near Muna. AMosque was afterwards built there to commemorate the event.[FN#23] Some Moslem writers suppose that Mohammed singled out twelvemen as apostles, and called them Nakil, in imitation of the example ofour Saviour. Other Moslems ignore both the fact and the intention. M.C.de Perceval gives the names of these Nakils in vol. iii. p. 8.[FN#24] Orthodox Moslems do not fail to quote this circumstance inhonour of the first Caliph, upon whom moreover they bestow the title of"Friend of the Cave." The Shi'ahs, on the other hand, hating Abu Bakr,see in it a symptom of treachery, and declare that the Prophet fearedto let the "Old Hyena," as they opprobriously term the venerablesuccessor, out of his sight for fear lest he should act as spy to theKuraysh. The voice of history and of common sense is against theShi'ahs. M.C. de Perceval justly remarks, that Abu Bakr and Omar weremen truly worthy of their great predecessor.[FN#25] This animal's name, according to some, was Al-Kaswa ("the tipsof whose ears are cropped"); according to others Al-Jada'a ("onemutilated in the ear, hand, nose, or lip"). The Prophet bought her for800 dirhams, on the day before his flight, from Abu Bakr, who hadfattened two fine animals of his own breeding. The camel was offered asa gift, but Mohammed insisted upon paying its price, because, say theMoslem casuists, he being engaged in the work of God would receive noaid from man. According to M.C. de Perceval, the Prophet preached fromthe back of Al-Kaswa the celebrated pilgrimage sermon at Arafat on the8th March, A.D. 632.[FN#26] The Prophet is generally supposed to have started from Meccahon the first of the same month, on a Friday or a Monday. Thisdiscrepancy is supposed to arise from the fact that Mohammed fled hishouse in Meccah on a Friday, passed three days in the cave on JabalSaur, and finally left it for Al-Madinah on Monday, which therefore,according to Moslem divines, was the first day of the "Hijrah." But theaera now commences on the 1st of the previous Muharram, an arrangementmade seventeen years after the date of the flight by Omar the Caliph,with the concurrence of Ali.[FN#27] The distance from Kuba to Al-Madinah is little more than threemiles, for which six hours-Friday prayers being about noon-may beconsidered an inordinately long time. But our author might urge as areason that the multitude of people upon a narrow road rendered theProphet's advance a slow one, and some historians relate that he spentseveral hours in conversation with the Benu Salim.[FN#28] Mohammed never would eat these strong smelling vegetables onaccount of his converse with the angels, even as modern "Spiritualists"refuse to smoke tobacco; at the same time he allowed his followers todo so, except when appearing in his presence, entering a Mosque, orjoining in public prayers. The pious Moslem still eats his onions withthese limitations. Some sects, however, as the Wahhabis, consideringthem abominable, avoid them on all occasions.[FN#29] The name of the tribe literally means "sons of a carpenter";hence the error of the learned and violent Humphrey Prideaux, correctedby Sale.[FN#30] Some say that Abu Bakr had no abode near the Mosque. But it isgenerally agreed upon, that he had many houses, one in Al-Bakia,another in the higher parts of Al-Madinah, and among them a hut on thespot between the present gates called Salam and Rahmah.[FN#31] It is clear from the fact above stated, that in those days theJews of Arabia were in a state of excitement, hourly expecting theadvent of their Messiah, and that Mohammed believed himself to be theperson appointed to complete the law of Moses.[FN#32] In many minor details the above differs from the receivedaccounts of Pre-Islamitic and early Mohammedan history. Let the blamebe borne by the learned Shaykh Abd al-Hakk al-Muhaddis of Delhi, andhis compilation, the "Jazb al-Kulub ila Diyar al-Mahhub (the "Drawingof Hearts towards the Holy Parts"). From the multitude of versions atlast comes correctness.[FN#33] A Firman from the Porte, dated 13th February, 1841, providesfor the paying of these pensions regularly. "It being customary to sendevery year from Egypt provisions in kind to the two Holy Cities, theprovisions and other articles, whatever they may be, which have up tothis time been sent to this place, shall continue to be sent thither."Formerly the Holy Land had immense property in Egypt, and indeed in allparts of Al-Islam. About thirty years ago, Mohammed Ali Pasha bought upall the Wakf (church property), agreeing to pay for its produce, whichhe rated at five piastres the ardeb, when it was worth three times asmuch. Even that was not regularly paid. The Sultan has taken advantageof the present crisis to put down Wakf in Turkey. The Holy Land,therefore, will gradually lose all its land and house property, andwill soon be compelled to depend entirely upon the presents of thepilgrims, and the Sadakah, or alms, which are still sent to it by thepious Moslems of distant regions. As might be supposed, both theMeccans and the Madani loudly bewail their hard fates, and by no meansapprove of the Ikram, the modern succedaneum for an extensive andregularly paid revenue. At a future time, I shall recur to this subject.[FN#34] The prayer-niche and the minaret both date their existence fromthe days of Al-Walid, the builder of the third Mosque. At this age oftheir empire, the Moslems had travelled far and had seen art in variouslands; it is therefore not without a shadow of reason that the Hinduscharge them with having borrowed their two favourite symbols, andtransformed them into an arch and a tower.[FN#35] The Ustawanat al-Hannanah, or "Weeping-Post." See page 335,chapter XVI., ante.[FN#36] As usual, there are doubts about the invention of this article.It was covered with cloth by the Caliph Osman, or, as others say, byAl-Mu'awiyah, who, deterred by a solar eclipse from carrying out hisproject of removing it to Damascus, placed it upon a new framework,elevated six steps above the ground. Al-Mahdi wished to raise theMambar six steps higher, but was forbidden so to do by the Imam Malik.The Abbasides changed the pulpit, and converted the Prophet's originalseat into combs, which were preserved as relics. Some historiansdeclare that the original Mambar was burnt with the Mosque in A.H. 654.In Ibn Jubayr's time (A.H. 580), it was customary for visitors to placetheir right hands upon a bit of old wood, inserted into one of thepillars of the pulpit; this was supposed to be a remnant of the"weeping-post." Every Sultan added some ornament to the Mambar, and atone time it was made of white marble, covered over with a dome of the"eight metals." It is now a handsome structure, apparently of wood,painted and gilt of the usual elegant form, which has been compared bysome travellers with the suggesta of Roman Catholic churches. I havebeen explicit about this pulpit, hoping that, next time the knottyquestion of Apostolic seats comes upon the tapis, our popular authorswill not confound a Curule chair with a Moslem Mambar. Of the latterarticle, Lane (Mod. Egyptians, chap. iii.) gave a sketch in the"Interior of a Mosque."[FN#37] The Prophet is said to have had a dwelling-house in theAmbariyah, or the Western quarter of the Manakhah suburb, and here,according to some, he lodged Mariyah, the Coptic girl. As pilgrims donot usually visit the place, and nothing of the original building canbe now remaining, I did not trouble myself about it.[FN#38] Meaning the Prophet's fifteen to twenty-five wives. Theirnumber is not settled. He left nine wives and two concubines. It wasthis title after the Koranic order (chap, xxxiii. v. 53) which renderedtheir widowhood eternal; no Arab would willingly marry a woman whom hehas called mother or sister.[FN#39] Authors mention a place outside the Northern wall calledAl-Suffah, which was assigned by Mohammed as a habitation to houselessbelievers; from which circumstance these paupers derived the title ofAshab al-Suffah, "Companions of the Sofa."[FN#40] So I translate the Arabicised word "Saj."[FN#41] A place about five miles from Al-Madinah, on the Meccan way.See Chap. XIV.[FN#42] And curious to say Al-Islam still has the largest cathedral inthe world-St. Sophia's at Constantinople. Next to this ranks St.Peter's at Rome; thirdly, I believe, the "Jumma Masjid," or cathedralof the old Moslem city Bijapur in India; the fourth is St. Paul's,London,[FN#43] It is to this monarch that the Saracenic Mosque-architecturemainly owes its present form. As will be seen, he had every advantageof borrowing from Christian, Persian, and even Indian art. From thefirst he took the dome, from the second the cloister-it might have beennaturalised in Arabia before his time-and possibly from the third theminaret and the prayer-niche. The latter appears to be a peculiarlyHindu feature in sacred buildings, intended to contain the idol, and tosupport the lamps, flowers, and other offerings placed before it.[FN#44] The reader will remember that in the sixth year of the Hijrah,after Mohammed's marriage with Zaynab, his wives were secluded behindthe Hijab, Pardah, or curtain. A verse of the Koran directed theMoslems to converse with them behind this veil. Hence the generalpractice of Al-Islam: now it is considered highly disgraceful in anyMoslem to make a Moslemah expose her face, and she will frequentlyfound a threat upon the prejudice. A battle has been prevented by thismeans, and occasionally an insurrection has been caused by it.[FN#45] Amongst which some authors enumerate the goblet and the mirrorof Kisra.[FN#46] The outer wall, built by Al-Walid, remained till A.H. 550, whenJamal al-Din of Isafahan, Wazir to Nur al-Din Shahid Mahmud bin Zangi,supplied its place by a grating of open sandal woodwork, or, as otherssay, of iron. About the same time, Sayyid Abu 'l Hayja sent from Egypta sheet of white brocade, embroidered in red silk with the chapterY.S., in order to cover the inner wall. This was mounted on theaccession of Al-Mustazi bi'llah, the Caliph, after which it became thecustom for every Sultan to renew the offering. And in A.H. 688, Kalaunof Egypt built the outer network of brass as it now is, and surmountedit with the Green Dome.[FN#47] The inner wall, erected by Al-Walid, seems to have resisted thefire which in A.H. 654 burnt the Mosque to the ground. Also, in A.H.886, when the building was consumed by lightning, the Hujrah was sparedby the devouring element.[FN#48] After the Prophet's death and burial, Ayishah continued tooccupy the same room, without even a curtain between her and the tomb.At last, vexed by the crowds of visitors, she partitioned off thehallowed spot with a wall. She visited the grave unveiled as long asher father Abu Bakr only was placed behind the Prophet; but when Omar'scorpse was added, she always covered her face.[FN#49] One of these, the minaret at the Bab-al-Salam, was soonafterwards overthrown by Al-Walid's brother Sulayman, because it shadedthe house of Marwan, where he lodged during his visit to Al-Madinah inthe cold season.[FN#50] The dinar (denarius) was a gold piece, a ducat, a sequin.[FN#51] I purpose to touch upon this event in a future chapter, whendescribing my route from Al-Madinah to Meccah.[FN#52] "On this occasion," says Al-Samanhudi, quoted by Burckhardt,"the interior of the Hujrah was cleared, and three deep graves werefound in the inside, full of rubbish, but the author of this history,who himself entered it, saw no traces of tombs." Yet in another placehe, an eye-witness, had declared that the coffin containing the dust ofMohammed was cased with silver. I repeat these details.[FN#53] Burckhardt has given a full account of this event in hishistory of the Wahhabis.[FN#54] See Chapter XVI., ante.[FN#55] My predecessor estimates the whole treasury in those days tohave been worth 300,000 Riyals,-a small sum, if we consider the lengthof time during which it was accumulating. The chiefs of the townappropriated 1 cwt. of golden vessels, worth at most 50,000 dollars,and Sa'ud sold part of the plunder to Ghalib for 100,000 (I was toldone-third more), reserving for himself about the same amount of pearlsand corals. Burckhardt supposes that the governors of Al-Madinah, whowere often independent chiefs, and sometimes guardians of the tombs,made occasional draughts upon the generosity of the Faithful.[FN#56] I inquired in vain about the substance that covered the dome.Some told me it was tinfoil; others supposed it to be rivetted withgreen tiles.[FN#57] The Badawi calls a sound dollar "Kirsh Hajar," or "RiyalHajar," a "stone dollar."[FN#58] At the same time his account is still carefully copied by ourpopular and general authors, who, it is presumed, could easily becomebetter informed.[FN#59] The Persians in remote times, as we learn from Herodotus (lib.6), were waited upon by eunuchs, and some attribute to them theinvention. Ammianus Marcellinus (lib. 14) ascribes the origin toSemiramis. In Al-Islam, the employment of such persons about the Mosqueis a "Bida'ah" or custom unknown in the time of the Prophet. It is saidto have arisen from the following three considerations: 1. These peopleare concentrated in their professions; 2. They must see and touchstrange women at the shrines; and 3. The shrines are "Harim," orsacred, having adyta which are kept secret from the prying eyes of men,and, therefore, should be served by eunuchs. It is strange that theRoman Catholic church, as well as the Moslem Mosque, should haveadmitted such an abomination.[FN#60] One of these gentry, if called "Tawashi,"-his genericname,-would certainly insult a stranger. The polite form of address toone of them is "Agha"-Master,-in the plural "Aghawat." In partibus,they exact the greatest respect from men, and the title of the Eunuchof the Tomb is worth a considerable sum to them. The eunuchs ofAl-Madinah are more numerous and better paid than those of Meccah: theyare generally the slaves of rich men at Constantinople, and prefer thiscity on account of its climate.[FN#61] The "Sons of the City," however, are always allowed to do suchservice gratis; if, indeed, they are not paid for it.[FN#62] Others told me that there were only two muftis at Al-Madinah,namely, those of the Hanafi and Shafe'i schools. If this be true, itproves the insignificance of the followers of Malik, which personage,like others, is less known in his own town than elsewhere.[FN#63] The Hanbali school is nowhere common except in Nijd, and thelands Eastward as far as Al-Hasa. At present it labours under a sort ofimputation, being supposed to have thrown out a bad offshoot, theWahhabis.[FN#64] "Ruasa" is the plural of Rais, a chief or president. It is theterm generally applied in Arabia to the captain of a vessel, and inAl-Yaman it often means a barber, in virtue, I presume, of itsroot-Ras, the head.[FN#65] Some say that the Egyptian distinction between the Imam Khatiband the Imam Ratib does not obtain at Al-Madinah.

[p.376]CHAPTER XVIII.

AL-MADINAH.

IT is equally difficult to define, politically and geographically, thelimits of Al-Hijaz. Whilst some authors, as Abulfeda,[FN#1] fix itsNorthern frontier at Aylah (Fort Al-'Akabah) and the Desert, makingAl-Yaman its Southern limit, others include in it only the tract ofland lying between Meccah and Al-Madinah. The country has no naturalboundaries, and its political limits change with every generation;perhaps, therefore, the best distribution of its frontier would be thatwhich includes all the property called Holy Land, making Yambu' theNorthern, and Jeddah the Southern extremes, while a line drawn throughAl-Madinah, Suwayrkiyah, and Jabal Kora-the mountain of Taif-mightrepresent its Eastern boundary. Thus Al-Hijaz would be an irregularparallelogram, about two hundred and fifty miles in length, with amaximum breadth of one hundred and fifty miles.

Two meanings are assigned to the name of this venerated region. Mostauthorities make it mean the "Separator," the "Barrier," between Nijdand Tahamah,[FN#2] or between Al-Yaman and Syria. According to others,it signifies the "colligated," i.e. by mountains. It is to be observedthat the people of the country, especially the Badawin, distinguish thelowlands from the high region

[p.377]by different names; the former are called Tahamat al-Hijaz-thesea coast of Al-Hijaz, as we should say in India, "below the Ghauts;"the latter is known peculiarly as Al-Hijaz.[FN#3]

Madinat al-Nabi,[FN#4] the Prophet's City, or, as it is

[p.378]usually called for brevity, Al-Madinah, the City, is situated onthe borders of Nijd, upon the vast plateau of high land

[p.379] which forms central Arabia. The limits of the sanctuary calledthe Hudud al-Harim, as defined by the Apostle, may still serve to markout the city's plain. Northwards, at a distance of about three miles,is Jabal Ohod, or, according to others, Jabal Saur, a hill somewhatbeyond Ohod; these are the last ribs of the vast tertiary and primitivechine[FN#5] which, extending from Taurus to near Aden, and from Adenagain to Maskat, fringes the Arabian trapezium. To the South-west theplain is bounded by ridges of scoriaceous basalt, and by a buttress ofrock called Jabal Ayr, like Ohod, about three miles distant from thetown. Westward, according to some authors, is the Mosque Zu'l-Halifah.On the East there are no natural landmarks, nor even artificial, likethe "Alamayn" at Meccah; an imaginary line, therefore, is drawn,forming an irregular circle of which the town is the centre, with adiameter from ten to twelve miles. Such is the sanctuary.[FN#6]Geographically considered, the

[p.380]plain is bounded, on the East, with a thin line of low darkhills, traversed by the Darb al-Sharki, or the "Eastern road," throughAl-Nijd to Meccah: Southwards, the plateau is open, and almostperfectly level as far as the eye can see.

Al-Madinah dates its origin doubtless from ancient times, and the causeof its prosperity is evident in the abundant supply of water, anecessary generally scarce in Arabia. The formation of the plateau isin some places salt sand, but usually a white chalk, and a loamy clay,which even by the roughest manipulation makes tolerable bricks. Limealso abounds. The town is situated upon a gently-shelving part of theplain, the, lowest portion of which, to judge from the versant, is atthe southern base of Mount Ohod, hence called Al-Safilah, and thehighest at the Awali, or plains about Kuba, and the East.

The Southern and South-Eastern walls of the suburb are sometimescarried away by violent "Sayl," or torrents, which, after rain, sweepdown from the Western as

[p.381]well as from the Eastern highlands. The water-flow is towardsAl-Ghabbah, lowlands in the Northern and Western hills, a little beyondMount Ohod. This basin receives the drainage of the mountains and theplain; according to some absorbing it, according to others collectingit till of sufficient volume to flow off to the sea. Water, thoughabundant, is rarely of good quality. In the days of the Prophet, theMadani consumed the produce of wells, seven of which are stillcelebrated by the people.[FN#7] Historians relate that Omar, the secondCaliph, provided the town with drinking-water from the Northern partsof the plains by means of an aqueduct. The modern city is supplied by asource called the Ayn al-Zarka or Azure Spring,[FN#8] which arises somesay at the foot of Mount Ayr, others, with greater probability, in thedate-groves of Kuba. Its waters were first brought to Al-Madinah byMarwan, governor in Al-Mu'awiyah's day. It now flows down asubterraneous canal, about thirty feet below the surface; in places thewater is exposed to the air, and

[p.382]steps lead to it for the convenience of the inhabitants: thiswas the work of Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent. After passing throughthe town it turns to the North-west, its course being marked by a lineof circular walls breast high, like the Kariz of Afghanistan, placed atunequal distances, and resembling wells: it then loses itself in theNakhil or palm-groves. During my stay at Al-Madinah, I always drankthis water, which appeared to me, as the citizens declared it to be,sweet and wholesome.[FN#9] There are many wells in the town, as wateris found at about twenty feet below the surface of the soil: fewproduce anything fit for drinking, some being salt and others bitter.As usual in the hilly countries of the East, the wide beds andFiumaras, even in the dry season, will supply travellers for a day ortwo with an abundance of water, filtrated through, and, in some cases,flowing beneath the sand.|

The climate of the plain is celebrated for a long, and, comparativelyspeaking, a rigorous winter; a popular saying records the opinion ofthe Apostle "that he who patiently endures the cold of Al-Madinah andthe heat of Meccah, merits a reward in Paradise." Ice is not seen inthe town, but may frequently be met with, it is said, on Jabal Ohod;fires are lighted in the houses during winter, and palsies attack thosewho at this season imprudently bathe in unwarmed water. The faircomplexions of the people prove that this account of the brumal rigoursis not exaggerated. Chilly and violent winds from the Eastern Desertare much dreaded, and though Ohod screens the town on the North andNorth-East, a gap in the mountains to the North-West fills the

[p.383]air at times with raw and comfortless blasts. The rains beginin October, and last with considerable intervals through six months;the clouds, gathered by the hill-tops and the trees near the town,discharge themselves with violence, and about the equinoxes,thunder-storms are common. At such times the Barr al-Manakhah, or theopen space between the town and the suburbs, is a sheet of water, andthe land near the Southern and the South-Eastern wall of the faubourgbecomes a pool. Rain, however, is not considered unhealthy here; andthe people, unlike the Meccans and the Cairenes, expect it withpleasure, because it improves their date-trees and fruitplantations.[FN#10] In winter it usually rains at night, in springduring the morning, and in summer about evening time. This is the casethroughout Al-Hijaz, as explained by the poet Labid in these lines,which describe the desolate site of an old encampment:-

"It (the place) hath been fertilised by the first spring showers of theconstellations, and hath been swept byThe incessant torrents of the thunder-clouds, falling in heavy andin gentle rains,>From each night-cloud, and heavily dropping morning-cloud,And the even-cloud, whose crashings are re-echoed from around.""It (the place) hath been fertilised by the first spring showers of theconstellations, and hath been swept byThe incessant torrents of the thunder-clouds, falling in heavy and ingentle rains,>From each night-cloud, and heavily dropping morning-cloud,And the even-cloud, whose crashings are re-echoed from around."

And the European reader will observe that the Arabs generally reckonthree seasons, including our autumn, in their summer. The hot weatherat Al-Madinah appeared to me as extreme as the hibernal cold isdescribed to be, but the air was dry, and the open plain prevented thefaint and stagnant sultriness which distinguishes Meccah. Moreover,though the afternoons were close, the nights and the mornings were cooland dewy. At this season the citizens sleep on the house-tops, or onthe ground

[p.384]outside their doors. Strangers must follow this example withconsiderable circumspection; the open air is safe in the Desert, but incities it causes, to the unaccustomed, violent catarrhs and febrileaffections.

I collect the following notes upon the diseases and medical treatmentof the Northern Hijaz. Al-Madinah has been visited four times by theRih al-Asfar[FN#11] (yellow wind), or Asiatic Cholera, which is said tohave committed great ravages, sometimes carrying off whole households.In the Rahmat al-Kabirah, the "Great Mercy," as the worst attack ispiously called, whenever a man vomited, he was abandoned to his fate;before that, he was treated with mint, lime-juice, and copious draughtsof coffee. It is still the boast of Al-Madinah, that the Taun, orplague, has never passed her frontier.[FN#12] The Judari, or smallpox,appears to be indigenous to the countries bordering upon the Red Sea;we read of it there in the earliest works of the Arabs,[FN#13] and evento the present time it sometimes sweeps through Arabia and the Somali

[p.385] country with desolating violence. In the town of Al-Madinah itis fatal to children, many of whom, however, are in these daysinoculated[FN#14]: amongst the Badawin, old men die of it, but adultsare rarely victims, either in the City or in the Desert. The nursecloses up the room whilst the sun is up, and carefully excludes thenight air, believing that, as the disease is "hot,[FN#15]" a breath ofwind will kill the patient. During the hours of darkness, a lightedcandle or lamp is always placed by the side of the bed, or the suffererwould die of madness, brought on by evil spirits or fright. Sheep'swool is burnt in the sick-room, as death would follow the inhaling ofany perfume. The only remedy I have heard of is pounded Kohl (antimony)drunk in water, and the same is drawn along the breadth of the eyelid,to prevent blindness. The diet is Adas (lentils),[FN#16] and a peculiarkind of date, called Tamr al-Birni. On the twenty-first day the patientis washed with salt and tepid water.

Ophthalmia is rare.[FN#17] In the summer, quotidian and

[p.386]tertian fevers (Hummah Salis) are not uncommon, and ifaccompanied by emetism, they are frequently fatal.

[p.387]The attack generally begins with the Naffazah, or cold fit, andis followed by Al-Hummah, the hot stage. The principal remedies arecooling drinks, such as Sikanjabin (oxymel) and syrups. After the feverthe face and body frequently swell, and indurated lumps appear on thelegs and stomach. There are also low fevers, called simply Hummah; theyare usually treated by burning charms in the patient's room. Jaundiceand bilious complaints are common, and the former is popularly cured ina peculiar way. The sick man looks into a pot full of water, whilst theexorciser, reciting a certain spell, draws the heads of two needlesfrom the patient's ears along his eyes, down his face, lastly dippingthem into water, which at once becomes yellow. Others have "Mirayat,"magic mirrors,[FN#18] on which the patient looks, and looses thecomplaint.

[p.388] Dysenteries frequently occur in the fruit season, when thegreedy Arabs devour all manner of unripe

[p.389]peaches, grapes, and pomegranates. The popular treatment is bythe actual cautery; the scientific affect the use of drastics andastringent simples, and the Bizr al-Kutn (cotton-seed), toasted,pounded, and drunk in warm water. Almost every one here, as in Egypt,suffers more or less from haemorrhoids; they are treated bydietetics-eggs and leeks-and by a variety of drugs, Myrobalans,Lisan-al-Hamal (Arnoglossum), etc. But the patient looks with horror atthe scissors and the knife, so that they seldom succeed in obtaining aradical cure. The Filaria Medinensis, locally called "Farantit," is nolonger common at the place which gave it its European name. At Yambu',however, the people suffer much from the Vena appearing in the legs.The complaint is treated here as in India and in Abyssinia: when thetumour bursts, and the worm shows, it is extracted by being graduallywound round a splinter of wood. Hydrophobia is rare, and the peoplehave many superstitions about it. They suppose that a bit of meat fallsfrom the sky, and that a dog eating it becomes mad. I was assured byrespectable persons, that when a man is bitten, they shut him up withfood, in a solitary chamber, for four days, and that if at the end ofthat time he still howls like a dog, they expel the Ghul (demon) fromhim, by pouring over him boiling water mixed with ashes-a certain cureI can easily believe. The only description of leprosy known in Al-Hijazis that called "Al-Baras": it appears in white patches on the skin,seldom attacks any but the poorer classes, and is considered incurable.Wounds are treated by Marham, or ointments, especially by the"Balesan," or Balm of Meccah; a cloth is tied round the limb, and

[p.390]not removed till the wound heals, which amongst this people ofsimple life, generally takes place by first intention. Ulcers arecommon in Al-Hijaz, as indeed all over Arabia. We read of them inancient times. In A.D. 504, the poet and warrior, Amr al-Kays, died ofthis dreadful disease, and it is related that when Mohammed Abu SiMohammed, in A.H. 132, conquered Al-Yaman with an army from Al-Hijaz,he found the people suffering from sloughing and mortifying sores, soterrible to look upon that he ordered the sufferers to be burnt alive.Fortunately for the patients, the conqueror died suddenly before hisinhuman mandate was executed. These sores here, as in Al-Yaman,[FN#19]are worst when upon the shin bones; they eat deep into the leg, and thepatient dies of fever and gangrene. They are treated on firstappearance by the actual cautery, and, when practicable, by cutting offthe joint; the drugs popularly applied are Tutiya (tutty) andverdigris. There is no cure but rest, a generous diet, and change ofair.

By the above short account it will be seen that the Arabs are no longerthe most skilful physicians in the world. They have, however, one greatadvantage in their practice, and they are sensible enough to make freeuse of it. As the children of almost all the respectable citizens arebrought up in the Desert, the camp becomes to them a native village. Incases of severe wounds or chronic diseases, the patient is ordered offto the Black Tents, where he lives as a Badawi, drinking camels' milk(a diet for the first three or four days highly cathartic), and doingnothing. This has been the practice from time immemorial in Arabia,whereas Europe is only beginning to systematise the adhibition of air,exercise, and simple living. And even now we are obliged to veil itunder the garb of charlatanry-to call it a "milk-cure" in Switzerland,

[p.391]a "water-cure" in Silesia, a "grape-cure" in France, a"hunger-cure" in Germany, and other sensible names which act as dust inthe public eyes.

Al-Madinah consists of three parts,-a town, a fort, and a suburb littlesmaller than the body of the place. The town itself is about one-thirdlarger than Suez, or nearly half the size of Meccah. It is a walledenclosure forming an irregular oval with four gates. The Bab al-Shami,or " Syrian Gate," in the North-West side of the enceinte, leadstowards Jabal Ohod, Hamzah's burial-place, and the mountains. In theEastern wall, the Bab al-Jum'ah, or Friday Gate, opens upon the Nijdroad and the cemetery, Al-Bakia. Between the Shami and the Jum'ahgates, towards the North, is the Bab al-Ziyafah (of Hospitality); andWestwards the Bab al-Misri (Egyptian) opens upon the plain called theBarr al-Manakhah. The Eastern and the Egyptian gates are fine massivebuildings, with double towers close together, painted with broad bandsof red, yellow, and other colors, not unlike that old entrance of theCairo citadel which opens upon the Ramayliyah plain. They may becompared with the gateway towers of the old Norman castles-Arques, forinstance. In their shady and well-watered interiors, soldiers keepguard, camel-men dispute, and numerous idlers congregate, to enjoy theluxuries of coolness and of companionship. Beyond this gate, in thestreet leading to the Mosque, is the great bazar. Outside it lie theSuk al-Khuzayriyah, or greengrocers' market, and the Suk al-Habbabah,or the grain bazar, with a fair sprinkling of coffee-houses. Thesemarkets are long masses of palm-leaf huts, blackened in the sun andwind, of a mean and squalid appearance, detracting greatly from theappearance of the gates. Amongst them there is a little domed andwhitewashed building, which I was told is a Sabil or public fountain.In the days of the Prophet the town

[p.392] was not walled. Even in Al-Idrisi's time (twelfth century), andas late as Bartema's (eighteenth century), the fortifications weremounds of earth, made by order of Kasim al-Daulat al-Ghori, whore-populated the town and provided for its inhabitants. Now, theenceinte is in excellent condition. The walls are well built of graniteand lava blocks, in regular layers, cemented with lime; they areprovided with "Mazghal" (or "Matras") long loopholes, and "Shararif" ortrefoil-shaped crenelles: in order to secure a flanking fire,semicircular towers, also loopholed and crenellated, are disposed inthe curtain at short and irregular intervals. Inside, the streets arewhat they always should be in these torrid lands, deep, dark, andnarrow, in few places paved-a thing to be deprecated-and generallycovered with black earth well watered and trodden to hardness. The mostconsiderable lines radiate towards the Mosque. There are few publicbuildings. The principal Wakalahs are four in number; one is theWakalat Bab Salam near the Harim, another the Wakalat Jabarti, and twoare inside the Misri gate; they all belong to Arab citizens. TheseCaravanserais are used principally as stores, rarely fordwelling-places like those of Cairo; travellers, therefore, must hirehouses at a considerable expense, or pitch tents to the detriment ofhealth and to their extreme discomfort. The other public buildings area few mean coffee-houses and an excellent bath in the Harat Zarawan,inside the town: far superior to the unclean establishments of Cairo,it borrows something from the luxury of Stambul. The houses are, forthe East, well built, flat-roofed and double-storied; the materialsgenerally used are a basaltic scoria, burnt brick, and palm wood. Thebest enclose spacious courtyards and small gardens with wells, wherewater basins and date trees gladden the owners' eyes. The latticedbalconies, first seen by the overland European traveller at Malta, arehere common, and the windows are

[p.393]mere apertures in the wall, garnished, as usual in Arab cities,with a shutter of planking. Al-Madinah fell rapidly under the Wahhabis,but after their retreat, it soon rose again, and now it is probably ascomfortable and flourishing a little city as any to be found in theEast. It contains between fifty and sixty streets, including the alleysand culs-de-sac. There is about the same number of Harat or quarters;but I have nothing to relate of them save their names. Within the townfew houses are in a dilapidated condition. The best authoritiesestimate the number of habitations at about 1500 within the enceinte,and those in the suburb at 1000. I consider both accounts exaggerated;the former might contain 800, and the Manakhah perhaps 500; at the sametime I must confess not to have counted them, and Captain Sadlier (inA.D. 1819) declares that the Turks, who had just made a kind of census,reckoned 6000 houses and a population of 18,000 souls. Assuming thepopulation to be 16,000 (Burckhardt raises it as high as 20,000), ofwhich 9000 occupy the city, and 7000 the suburbs and the fort, thiswould give a little more than twelve inhabitants to each house, a fairestimate for an Arab town, where the abodes are large and slavesabound.[FN#20]

The castle joins on to the North-West angle of the city enceinte, andthe wall of its Eastern outwork is pierced for

[p.394]a communication through a court strewed with guns and warlikeapparatus, between the Manakhah Suburb and the Bab al-Shami, or theSyrian Gate. Having been refused entrance into the fort, I can describeonly its exterior. The outer wall resembles that of the city, only itstowers are more solid, and the curtain appears better calculated forwork. Inside, a donjon, built upon a rock, bears proudly enough thebanner of the Crescent and the Star; its whitewashed walls make it aconspicuous object, and guns pointed in all directions, especially uponthe town, project from their embrasures. The castle is said to containwells, bomb-proofs, provisions, and munitions of war; if so, it must bea kind of Gibraltar to the Badawin and the Wahhabis. The garrisonconsisted of a Nisf Urtah,[FN#21] or half battalion (four hundred men)of Nizam infantry, commanded by a Pasha; his authority also extends toa Sanjak, or about five hundred Kurdish and Albanian Bash-Buzuks, whoseduty it is to escort caravans, to convey treasures, and to be shot atin the Passes. The Madani, who, as usual with Orientals, take apersonal pride in their castle, speak of it with much exaggeration.Commanded by a high line of rocks on the North-West, and built as it isin most places without moat, glacis, earthwork, or outworks, a fewshells and a single battery of siege guns would soon render ituntenable. In ancient times it has more than once been held by a partyat feud with the town, for whose mimic battles the Barr al-Manakhah wasa fitting field. Northward from the fort, on the road to Ohod, butstill within fire, is a long many-windowed building, formerly Da'udPasha's palace. In my time it had been bought by Abbas Pasha of Egypt.

[p.395]The suburbs lie to the South and West of the town. Southwardsthey are separated from the enceinte by a wide road, called the Darbal-Janazah, the Road of Biers, so called because the corpses of certainschismatics, who may not pass through the city, are carried this way totheir own cemetery near the Bab al-Jumah, or Eastern Gate. Westwards,between Al-Madinah and its faubourg, lies the plain of Al-Manakhah,about three-quarters of a mile long, by three hundred yards broad. Thestraggling suburbs occupy more ground than the city: fronting theenceinte they are without walls; towards the West, where open countrylies, they are enclosed by mud or raw brick ramparts, with little roundtowers, all falling to decay. A number of small gates lead from thesuburb into the country. The only large one, a poor copy of the Babal-Nasr at Cairo, is the Ambari or Western entrance, through which wepassed into Al-Madinah. The suburb contains no buildings of anyconsequence, except the Khaskiyah, or official residence of the Muhafiz(governor), a plain building near the Barr al-Manakhah, and the KhamsahMasajid, or the Five Mosques, which every Zair is expected to visit.They are

The Prophet's Mosque in the Manakhah.Abu Bakr's near the Ayn al-Zarka.Ali's Mosque in the Zukak al-Tayyar of the Manakhah. Some authors callthis the "Musalla al-Id," because the Prophet here prayed the FestivalPrayer.Omar's Mosque, near the Bab Kuba of the Manakhah, and close to thelittle torrent called Al-Sayh.Belal's Mosque, celebrated in books; I did not see it, and some Madaniassured me that it no longer exists.

A description of one of these buildings will suffice, for they are allsimilar. Mohammed's Mosque in the Manakhah stands upon a spot formerlyoccupied, some say, by the Jami Ghamamah. Others believe it to befounded upon the Musalla al-Nabi, a place where the

[p.396]Apostle recited the first Festival prayers after his arrival atAl-Madinah, and used frequently to pray, and to address those of hisfollowers who lived far from the Harim,[FN#22] or Sanctuary. It is atrim modern building of cut stone and lime in regular layers, ofparallelogramic shape, surmounted by one large and four small cupolas.These are all whitewashed; and the principal is capped with a largecrescent, or rather a trident, rising from a series of gilt globes: theother domes crown the several corners. The minaret is of the usualTurkish shape, with a conical roof, and a single gallery for theMu'ezzin. An Acacia-tree or two on the Eastern side, and behind it awall-like line of mud houses, finish the coup-d'oeil; the interior ofthis building is as simple as is the exterior. And here I may remarkthat the Arabs have little idea of splendour, either in their public orin their private architecture. Whatever strikes the traveller's eye inAl-Hijaz is always either an importation or the work of foreignartists. This arises from the simple tastes of the people, combined,doubtless, with their notable thriftiness. If strangers will build forthem, they argue, why should they build for themselves? Moreover, theyhave scant inducement to lavish money upon grand edifices. Whenever adisturbance takes place, domestic or from without, the principalbuildings are sure to suffer. And the climate is inimical to theirenduring. Both ground and air at Al-Madinah, as well as at Meccah, aredamp and nitrous in winter, in summer dry and torrid: the lime is poor;palm-timber soon decays: even foreign wood-work suffers, and a fewyears of neglect suffice to level the proudest pile with the dust.

The suburbs to the South of Al- Madinah are a collection

[p.397]of walled villages, with plantations and gardens between. Theyare laid out in the form, called here, as in Egypt, Hosh-court-yards,with single-storied tenements opening into them. These enclosurescontain the cattle of the inhabitants; they have strong wooden doors,shut at night to prevent "lifting," and they are capable of beingstoutly defended. The inhabitants of the suburb are for the most partBadawi settlers, and a race of schismatics who will be noticed inanother chapter. Beyond these suburbs, to the South, as well as to theNorth and Northeast, lie gardens and extensive plantations ofpalm-trees.

[FN#1] To the East he limits Al-Hijaz by Yamamah (which some include init), Nijd, and the Syrian desert, and to the West by the Red Sea. TheGreeks, not without reason, included it in their Arabia Petraea.Niebuhr places the Southern boundary at Hali, a little town south ofKunfudah (Gonfoda). Captain Head (Journey from India to Europe) makesthe village Al-Kasr, opposite the Island of Kotambul, the limit ofAl-Hijaz to the South.[FN#2] Or, according to others, between Al-Yaman and Syria.[FN#3] If you ask a Badawi near Meccah, whence his fruit comes, he willreply "min Al-Hijaz," "from the Hijaz," meaning from the mountainouspart of the country about Taif. This would be an argument in favour ofthose who make the word to signify a "place tied together," (bymountains). It is notorious that the Badawin are the people who bestpreserve the use of old and disputed words; for which reason they wereconstantly referred to by the learned in the palmy days of Moslemphilology. "Al-Hijaz," also, in this signification, well describes thecountry, a succession of ridges and mountain chains; whereas such aname as "the barrier" would appear to be rather the work of somegeographer in his study. Thus Al-Nijd was so called from its high andopen lands, and, briefly, in this part of the world, names are mostfrequently derived from some physical and material peculiarity of soilor climate.[FN#4] Amongst a people, who, like the Arabs or the Spaniards, hold aplurality of names to be a sign of dignity, so illustrious a spot asAl-Madinah could not fail to be rich in nomenclature. A Hadis declares,"to Al-Madinah belong ten names": books, however, enumerate nearly ahundred, of which a few will suffice as a specimen. Tabah, Tibah,Taibah, Tayyibah, and Mutayyibah, (from the root "Tib," "good,""sweet," or "lawful,") allude to the physical excellencies ofAl-Madinah as regards climate-the perfume of the Prophet's tomb, and ofthe red rose, which was a thorn before it blossomed by the sweat of hisbrow-and to its being free from all moral impurity, such as thepresence of Infidels, or worshippers of idols. Mohammed declared thathe was ordered by Allah to change the name of the place to Tabah, fromYasrib or Asrib. The latter, according to some, was a proper name of ason of Noah; others apply it originally to a place west of Mount Ohod,not to Al-Madinah itself; and quote the plural form of the word,"Asarib," ("spots abounding in palms and fountains,") as a proof thatit does not belong exclusively to a person. However this may be, theinauspicious signification of Yasrib, whose root is "Sarab,"(destruction,) and the notorious use of the name by the Pagan Arabs,have combined to make it, like the other heathen designation,Al-Ghalabah, obsolete, and the pious Moslem who pronounces the word iscareful to purify his mouth by repeating ten times the name"Al-Madinah." Barah and Barrah allude to its obedience and purity;Hasunah to its beauty; Khayrah and Khayyarah to its goodness; Mahabbah,Habibah and Mahbubah, to the favour it found in the eyes of theProphet; whilst Jabirah, Jabbarah, and Jabarah, (from the root Jabr,joining or breaking), at once denote its good influence upon thefortunes of the Faithful and its evil effects upon the Infidel."Al-Iman," (the Faith,) is the name under which it is hinted at in theKoran. It is called Shafiyah (the Healer), on account of the curativeeffects of earth found in its neighbourhood; Nasirah, the Saving, andAsimah, the Preserving, because Mohammed and his companions were theresecure from the fury of their foes; Fazihah, the Detector, from itsexposing the Infidel and the hypocrite; Muslimah and Muminah, theFaithful City; Mubarakah, the Blessed; Mahburah, the Happy; andMahturah, the Gifted. Mahrusah, the Guarded; and Mahfuzah, thePreserved, allude to the belief that an angel sits in each of its tenmain streets, to watch over the town, and to prevent "Antichrist"entering therein. "Al-Dajjal," as this personage is called, will arisein the East and will peregrinate the earth; but he will be unable topenetrate into Meccah; and on approaching Jabal Ohod, in sight ofAl-Madinah, he will turn off towards his death-place, Al-Sham(Damascus). In the Taurat or Pentateuch, the town is called Mukaddasah,the Holy, or Marhumah the Pitied, in allusion to the mission ofMohammed; Marzukah, the Fed, is a favourable augury of plenty to it,and Miskinah, the Poor, hints that it is independent of treasure ofgold or store of silver to keep up its dignity. Al-Makarr, means theResidence or the Place of Quiet; Makinat, the Firmly-fixed, (in theright faith); Al-Harim, the Sacred or Inviolable; and, finally,Al-Balad, the Town, and Al-Madinah, the City by excellence. So aninhabitant calls himself Al-Madani, whilst the natives of other andless-favoured "Madinahs" affix Madini to their names. Its titles areArz-Allah, Allah's Land; Arz al-Hijrah, the Land of Exile; Akkalatal-Buldan, the Eater of Towns; and Akkalat al-Kura, the Eater ofVillages, on account of its superiority, even as Meccah is entitled Ummal-Kura, the Mother of Villages; Bayt Rasul Allah, House of Allah'sProphet; Jazirat alArab, Isle of the Arab; and Harim Rasul Allah, theSanctuary of Allah's Prophet. In books and letters it has sometimes thetitle of Madinah Musharrafah, the Exalted; more often that of MadinahMunawwarah, the Enlightened-scil. by the lamp of faith and the columnof light supposed to be based upon the Prophet's tomb. The Moslems arenot the only people who lay claim to Al-Madinah. According to someauthors-and the legend is more credible than at first sight it wouldappear-the old Guebres had in Arabia and Persia seven large firetemples, each dedicated to a planet. At "Mahdinah," as they pervert theword, was an image of the Moon, wherefore the place was originallycalled the "Religion of the Moon." These Guebres, amongst other sacredspots, claim Meccah, where they say Saturn and the Moon were conjointlyvenerated; Jerusalem, the Tomb of Ali at Najaf, that of Hosayn atKerbela, and others. These pretensions of course the Moslems deny withinsistance, which does not prevent certain symptoms of old and decayedfaith peeping out in localities where their presence, if dulyunderstood, would be considered an abomination. This curious fact isabundantly evident in Sind, and I have already alluded to it (Historyof Sind).[FN#5] Such is its formation in Al-Hijaz.[FN#6] Within the sanctuary all Muharramat, or sins, are forbidden; butthe several schools advocate different degrees of strictness. The ImamMalik, for instance, allows no latrinae} nearer to Al-Madinah thanJabal Ayr, a distance of about three miles. He also forbids slayingwild animals, but at the same time he specifies no punishment for theoffence. Some do not allow the felling of trees, alleging that theProphet enjoined their preservation as an ornament to the city, and apleasure to visitors. Al-Khattabi, on the contrary, permits people tocut wood, and this is certainly the general practice. All authorsstrenuously forbid within the boundaries slaying man (except invaders,infidels, and the sacrilegious), drinking spirits, and leading animmoral life. As regards the dignity of the sanctuary, there is but oneopinion; a number of Hadis testify to its honour, praise its people,and threaten dreadful things to those who injure it or them. It iscertain that on the last day, the Prophet will intercede for, and aid,all those who die, and are buried, at Al-Madinah. Therefore, the ImamMalik made but one pilgrimage to Meccah, fearing to leave his bones inany other cemetery but Al-Bakia. There is, however, much debateconcerning the comparative sanctity of Al-Madinah and Meccah. Some sayMohammed preferred the former, blessing it as Abraham did Meccah.Moreover, as a tradition declares that every man's body is drawn fromthe dust of the ground in which he is buried, Al-Madinah, it isevident, had the honour of supplying materials for the Prophet'sperson. Others, like Omar, were uncertain in favour of which city todecide. Others openly assert the pre-eminence of Meccah; the generalconsensus of Al-Islam preferring Al-Madinah to Meccah, save only theBayt Allah in the latter city. This last is a juste-milieu view, by nomeans in favour with the inhabitants of either place. In the meanwhilethe Meccans claim unlimited superiority over the Madani; the Madaniover the Meccans.[FN#7] These seven wells will be noticed in Chapter XIX., post.[FN#8] I translate Al-Zarka "azure," although Sir G. Wilkinson remarks,apropos of the Bahr al-Azrak, generally translated by us the "BlueNile," that, "when the Arabs wish to say dark or jet black, they usethe word ĎAzrak.'" It is true that Azrak is often applied toindeterminate dark hues, but "Aswad," not Azrak, is the opposite toAbyaz, "white." Moreover, Al-Zarka in the feminine is applied to womenwith light blue eyes; this would be no distinctive appellation if itsignified black eyes, the almost universal colour. Zarka of Yamamah isthe name of a celebrated heroine in Arab story, and the curious reader,who wishes to see how much the West is indebted to the East, even forthe materials of legend, will do well to peruse her short history inMajor Price's "Essay," or M.C. de Perceval's "Essai," &c., vol. i., p.101. Both of these writers, however, assert that Zarka's eyes, when cutout, were found to contain fibres blackened by the use of Kohl, andthey attribute to her the invention of this pigment. I have often heardthe legend from the Arabs, who declare that she painted her eyes with"Ismid," a yellow metal, of what kind I have never been able todetermine, although its name is everywhere known.[FN#9] Burckhardt confounds the Ayn al-Zarka with the Bir al-Khatim, orKuba well, of whose produce the surplus only mixes with it, and hecomplains loudly of the "detestable water of Madinah." But he was illat the time, otherwise he would not have condemned it so strongly aftereulogising the salt-bitter produce of the Meccan Zemzem.[FN#10] The people of Nijd, as Wallin informs us, believe that the morethe palms are watered, the more syrup will the fruit produce; theytherefore inundate the ground, as often as possible. At Al-Jauf, wherethe date is peculiarly good, the trees are watered regularly everythird or fourth day.[FN#11] Properly meaning the Yellow Wind or Air. The antiquity of theword and its origin are still disputed.[FN#12] Burckhardt (Travels in Arabia, vol. ii.) informs us, that inA.D. 1815, when Meccah, Yambu', and Jeddah suffered severely from theplague, Al-Madinah and the open country between the two seaportsescaped.[FN#13] Conjecture, however, goes a little too far when it discoverssmall-pox in the Tayr Ababil, the "swallow birds," which, according tothe Koran, destroyed the host of Abrahat al-Ashram. Major Price (Essay)may be right in making Ababil the plural of Abilah, a vesicle; but itappears to me that the former is an Arabic and the latter a Persianword, which have no connection whatever. M.C. de Perceval, quoting theSirat al-Rasul, which says that at that time small-pox first appearedin Arabia, ascribes the destruction of the host of Al-Yaman to anepidemic and a violent tempest. The strangest part of the story is,that although it occurred at Meccah, about two months before Mohammed'sbirth, and, therefore, within the memory of many living at the time,the Prophet alludes to it in the Koran as a miracle.[FN#14] In Al-Yaman, we are told by Niebuhr, a rude form ofinoculation-the mother pricking the child's arm with a thorn-has beenknown from time immemorial. My Madinah friend assured me that onlyduring the last generation, this practice has been introduced amongstthe Badawin of Al-Hijaz.[FN#15] Orientals divide their diseases, as they do remedies andarticles of diet, into hot, cold, and temperate.

[FN#16] This grain is cheaper than rice on the banks of the Nile-a factwhich enlightened England, now paying a hundred times its value for"Revalenta Arabica," apparently ignores.[FN#17] Herodotus (Euterpe) has two allusions to eye disease, whichseems to have afflicted the Egyptians from the most ancient times.Sesostris the Great died stone-blind; his successor lost his sight forten years, and the Hermaic books had reason to devote a whole volume toophthalmic disease. But in the old days of idolatry, the hygienic andprophylactic practices alluded to by Herodotus, the greater cleanlinessof the people, and the attention paid to the canals and drainage,probably prevented this malarious disease becoming the scourge which itis now. The similarity of the soil and the climate of Egypt to those ofUpper Sind, and the prevalence of the complaint in both countries,assist us in investigating the predisposing causes. These are, thenitrous and pungent nature of the soil-what the old Greek calls "acridmatter exuding from the earth,"-and the sudden transition from extremedryness to excessive damp checking the invisible perspiration of thecircumorbital parts, and flying to an organ which is already weakenedby the fierce glare of the sun, and the fine dust raised by the Khamsinor the Chaliho. Glare and dust alone, seldom cause eye disease.Everyone knows that ophthalmia is unknown in the Desert, and the peopleof Al-Hijaz, who live in an atmosphere of blaze and sand, seldom losetheir sight. The Egyptian usually catches ophthalmia in his childhood.It begins with simple conjunctivitis, caused by constitutionalpredisposition, exposure, diet, and allowing the eye to be covered withswarms of flies. He neglects the early symptoms, and cares the less forbeing a Cyclops, as the infirmity will most probably exempt him frommilitary service. Presently the sane organ becomes affectedsympathetically. As before, simple disease of the conjunctiva passesinto purulent ophthalmia. The man, after waiting a while, will go tothe doctor and show a large cicatrix in each eye, the result of anulcerated cornea. Physic can do nothing for him; he remains blind forlife. He is now provided for, either by living with his friends, whoseldom refuse him a loaf of bread, or if industriously inclined, bybegging, by acting Mu'ezzin, or by engaging himself as "Yamaniyah," orchaunter, at funerals. His children are thus predisposed to thepaternal complaint, and gradually the race becomes tender-eyed. Mosttravellers have observed that imported African slaves seldom becomeblind either in Egypt or in Sind. Few Englishmen settled in Egypt losetheir sight, except they be medical men, who cannot afford time tonurse the early symptoms. The use of coffee and of water as beverageshas much to do with this. In the days of hard drinking our Egyptianarmy suffered severely, and the Austrian army in Tuscany showed howoften blindness is caused by importing Northern habits into Southerncountries. Many Europeans in Egypt wash their eyes with cold water,especially after walking, and some use once a day a mildly astringentor cooling wash, as Goulard's lotion or vinegar and water. They avoidletting flies settle upon their eyes, and are of opinion that theevening dews are prejudicial, and that sleeping with open windows laysthe foundation of disease. Generally when leaving a hot room,especially a Nile-boat cabin, for the cold damp night air, the moreprudent are careful to bathe and to wipe the eyes and forehead as apreparation for change of atmosphere. During my short practice in EgyptI found the greatest advantage from the employment ofcounter-irritants,-blisters and Pommade Emetise,-applied to the templesand behind the ears. Native practitioners greatly err by confiningtheir patients in dark rooms, thereby injuring the general health andlaying the foundation of chronic disease. They are ignorant that,unless the optic nerve be affected, the stimulus of light is beneficialto the eye. And the people by their dress favour the effects of glareand dust. The Tarbush, no longer surrounded as of old by a hugeturband, is the least efficient of protectors, and the comparativerarity of ophthalmic disease among the women, who wear veils, provesthat the exposure is one of its co-efficient causes.[FN#18] This invention dates from the most ancient times, and both inthe East and in the West has been used by the weird brotherhood toproduce the appearances of the absent and the dead, to discovertreasure, to detect thieves, to cure disease, and to learn the secretsof the unknown world. The Hindus called it Anjan, and formed it byapplying lamp-black, made of a certain root, and mixed with oil to thepalm of a footling child, male or female. The Greeks used oil pouredinto a boy's hand. Cornelius Agrippa had a crystal mirror, whichmaterial also served the Counts de Saint Germain and Cagliostro. Dr.Dee's "show-stone" was a bit of cannel coal. The modern Sindians knowthe art by the name of Gahno or Vinyano; there, as in Southern Persia,ink is rubbed upon the seer's thumb-nail. The people of Northern Africaare considered skilful in this science, and I have a Maghrabi magicformula for inking the hand of a "boy, a black slave girl, a virgin, ora pregnant woman," which differs materially from those generally known.The modern Egyptians call it Zarb al-Mandal, and there is scarcely aman in Cairo who does not know something about it. In selectingsubjects to hold the ink, they observe the right hand, and reject allwho have not what is called in palmistry the "linea media naturalis"straight and deeply cut. Even the barbarous Finns look into a glass ofbrandy, and the natives of Australia gaze at a kind of shining stone.Lady Blessington's crystal ball is fresh in the memory of the presentgeneration, and most men have heard of Electro-Biology and the Cairomagician. Upon this latter subject, a vexed one, I must venture a fewremarks. In the first account of the magician by Mr. Lane, we have afair and dispassionate recital of certain magical, mystical, ormesmeric phenomena, which "excited considerable curiosity and interestth[r]oughout the civilised world." As usual in such matters, thecivilised world was wholly ignorant of what was going on at home;otherwise, in London, Paris, and New York, they might have found dozensstudying the science. But a few years before, Dr. Herklots haddescribed the same practice in India, filling three goodly pages; buthe called his work "Qanoon-i-Islam," and, consequently, despite itsexcellencies, it fell still-born from the press. Lady H. Stanhopefrequently declared "the spell by which the face of an absent person isthrown upon a mirror to be within the reach of the humblest and mostcontemptible of magicians;" but the civilised world did not care tobelieve a prophetess. All, however, were aroused by Mr. Lane'sdiscovery, and determined to decide the question by the ordeal ofreason. Accordingly, in A.D. 1844, Mr. Lane, aided by Lord Nugent andothers, discovered that a "coarse and stupid fraud" had beenperpetrated upon him by Osman Effendi, the Scotchman. In 1845, Sir G.Wilkinson remarked of this rationalism, "The explanation latelyoffered, that Osman Effendi was in collusion with the magician, isneither fair on him nor satisfactory, as he was not present when thosecases occurred which were made so much of in Europe," and he proposed"leading questions and accidents" as the word of the riddle. Eothenattributed the whole affair to "shots," as schoolboys call them, andranked success under the head of Paley's "tentative miracles." A writerin the Quarterly explained them by suggesting the probability of divers(impossible) optical combinations, and, lest the part of belief shouldhave been left unrepresented, Miss Martineau was enabled to see clearsigns of mesmeric action, and by the decisive experiment of self,discovered the magic to be an "affair of mesmerism." Melancholy torelate, after all this philosophy, the herd of travellers at Cairo isstill divided in opinion about the magician, some holding hisperformance to be "all humbug," others darkly hinting that "there maybe something in it."[FN#19] They distinguish, however, between the Hijaz "Nasur" and the"Jurh al-Yamani," or the "Yaman Ulcer."[FN#20] I afterwards received the following information from Mr.Charles Cole, H.B.M. Vice-Consul at Jeddah, a gentleman well acquaintedwith Western Arabia, and having access to official information: "Thepopulation of Al-Madinah is from 16,000 to 18,000, and the Nizam troopsin garrison 400. Meccah contains about 45,000 inhabitants, Yambu' from6000 to 7000, Jeddah about 2500 (this I think is too low), and Taif8000. Most of the troops are stationed at Meccah and at Jeddah. InAl-Hijaz there is a total force of five battalions, each of which oughtto contain 800 men; they may amount to 3500, with 500 artillery, and4500 irregulars, though the muster rolls bear 6000. The Government paysin paper for all supplies, (even for water for the troops,) and thepaper sells at the rate of forty piastres per cent."[FN#21] The Urtah or battalion here varies from 800 to 1000 men. Ofthese, four form one Alai or regiment, and thirty-six Alai an Urdu orcamp. This word Urdu, pronounced "Ordoo," is the origin of our "horde."[FN#22] One of the traditions, "Between my house and my place ofprayers is a Garden of the Gardens of Paradise," has led divines tomeasure the distance: it is said to be 1000 cubits from the Bab Salamof the Harim to this Musalla.

[p.398]CHAPTER XIX.

A RIDE TO THE MOSQUE OF KUBA.

THE principal places of pious visitation in the vicinity of Al-Madinahare the Mosques of Kuba, the Cemetery Al-Bakia, and the martyr Hamzah'stomb, at the foot of Mount Ohod. These the Zair is directed by all theOlema to visit, and on the holy ground to pray Allah for a blessingupon himself, and upon his brethren of the faith.

Early one Saturday morning, I started for Kuba with a motley crowd ofdevotees. Shaykh Hamid, my Muzawwir, was by my side, mounted upon anass more miserable than I had yet seen. The boy Mohammed had procuredfor me a Meccan dromedary, with splendid trappings, a saddle withburnished metal peaks before and behind, covered with a huge sheepskindied crimson, and girthed over fine saddle-bags, whose enormous tasselshung almost to the ground. The youth himself, being too grand to ride adonkey, and unable to borrow a horse, preferred walking. He was proudas a peacock, being habited in a style somewhat resembling the plume ofthat gorgeous bird, in the coat of many colours-yellow, red, and goldenflowers, apparently sewed on a field of bright green silk-which cost meso dear in the Harim. He was armed, as indeed all of us were, inreadiness for the Badawin, and he anxiously awaited opportunities ofdischarging his pistol. Our course lay from Shaykh Hamid's house in theManakhah, along and up the

[p.399]Fiumara, "Al-Sayh," and through the Bab Kuba, a little gate inthe suburb wall, where, by-the-bye, my mounted companion was nearlytrampled down by a rush of half-wild camels. Outside the town, in thisdirection, Southward, is a plain of clay, mixed with chalk, and hereand there with sand, whence protrude blocks and little ridges ofbasalt. As far as Kuba, and the Harrah ridge to the West, the earth issweet and makes excellent gugglets.[FN#1] Immediately outside the gateI saw a kiln, where they were burning tolerable bricks. Shortly afterleaving the suburb, an Indian, who joined our party upon the road,pointed out on the left of the way what he declared was the place ofthe celebrated Khandak, or Moat, the Torres Vedras of ArabianHistory.[FN#2] Presently the Nakhil, or palm plantations, began.Nothing lovelier to the eye, weary with hot red glare, than the richgreen waving crops and the cool shade, the "food of vision," as theArabs call it, and "pure water to the parched throat." For hours Icould have sat and looked at it. The air was soft and balmy; a perfumedbreeze, strange luxury in Al-Hijaz, wandered amongst the date fronds;there were fresh flowers and bright foliage; in fact, at Midsummer,every beautiful feature of Spring. Nothing more delightful to the earthan the warbling of the small birds, that sweet familiar sound; thesplashing of tiny cascades from the wells into the wooden troughs,

[p.400]and the musical song of the water-wheels. Travellers-youngtravellers-in the East talk of the "dismal grating," the "mournfulmonotony," and the "melancholy creaking of these dismal machines." Tothe veteran wanderer their sound is delightful from association,reminding him of fields and water-courses, and hospitable villages, andplentiful crops. The expatriated Nubian, for instance, listens to thewater-wheel with as deep emotion as the Ranz des Vaches ever excited inthe hearts of Switzer mercenary at Naples, or "Lochaber no more," amonga regiment of Highlanders in the West Indies. The date-trees ofAl-Madinah merit their celebrity. Their stately columnar stems, here,seems higher than in other lands, and their lower fronds are allowed totremble in the breeze without mutilation.[FN#3] These enormous palmswere loaded with ripening fruits; and the clusters, carefully tied up,must often have weighed upwards of eighty pounds. They hung downbetween the lower branches by a bright yellow stem, as thick as a man'sankle. Books enumerate a hundred and thirty-nine varieties of trees; ofthese between sixty and seventy are well known, and each isdistinguished, as usual among Arabs, by its peculiar name. The bestkind is Al-Shelebi; it is packed in skins, or in flat round boxescovered with paper, somewhat in the manner of French prunes, and sentas presents to the remotest parts of the Moslem world.[FN#4] The fruitis about two inches long, with a small stone,

[p.401]and has a peculiar aromatic flavour and smell; it is seldomeaten by the citizens on account of the price, which varies from two toten piastres the pound. The tree, moreover, is rare, and is said to benot so productive as the other species. The Ajwah[FN#5] date is eaten,but not sold, because a tradition of the Prophet declares, that whosobreaketh his fast every day with six or seven of these fruits, needfear neither poison nor magic. The third kind, Al-Hilwah, also a largedate, derives a name from its exceeding sweetness: of this palm theMoslems relate that the Prophet planted a stone, which in a few minutesgrew up and bore fruit. Next comes Al-Birni, of which was said, "Itcauseth sickness to depart, and there is no sickness in it." The Wahshion one occasion bent its head, and "salamed" to Mohammed as he ate itsfruit, for which reason even now its lofty tuft turns earthwards. TheSayhani (Crier) is so called, because when the founder of Al-Islam,holding Ali's hand, happened to pass beneath, it cried, "This isMohammed the Prince of Prophets, and this is Ali the Prince of thePious, and the Progenitor of the Immaculate Imams.[FN#6]" Of course thedescendants of so intelligent a vegetable hold high rank in the kingdomof palms, and the vulgar were in the habit of eating the Sayhani and ofthrowing the stones about the Harim. The Khuzayriyah is thus namedbecause it preserves its green colour, even when ripe; it is dried andpreserved as a curiosity. The Jabali is the common fruit: the poorestkinds are the Laun and

[p.402]the Hilayah, costing from four to seven piastres per mudd.[FN#7]

I cannot say that the dates of Al-Madinah are finer than those ofMeccah, although it is highly heretical to hold such tenet. The produceof the former city was the favourite food of the Prophet, whoinvariably broke his fast with it: a circumstance which invests it witha certain degree of relic-sanctity. The citizens delight in speaking ofdates as an Irishman does of potatoes, with a manner of familiarfondness: they eat them for medicine as well as for food; "Rutab," orwet dates, being held to be the most saving, as it is doubtless themost savoury, of remedies. The fruit is prepared in a great variety ofways: the favourite dish is a broil with clarified butter, extremelydistasteful to the European palate. The date is also left upon the treeto dry, and then called "Balah": this is eaten at dessert as the"Nukliyat"-the quatre mendiants of Persia. Amongst peculiarpreparations must be mentioned the "Kulladat al-Sham[FN#8]" (necklaceof Sham). The unripe fruit is dipped in boiling water to preserve itsgamboge colour, strung upon a thick thread and hung out in the air todry. These strings are worn all over Al-Hijaz as necklaces by children,who seldom fail to munch the ornament when not in fear of slappings;and they are sent as presents to distant countries.

[p.403]January and February are the time for the masculation[FN#9] ofthe palm. The "Nakhwali," as he is called, opens the female flower, andhaving inserted the inverted male blossom, binds them together: thisoperation is performed, as in Egypt, upon each cluster.[FN#10] Thefruit is ripe about the middle of May, and the gathering of it, formsthe Arabs' "vendemmia." The people make merry the more readily becausetheir favourite diet is liable to a variety of accidents: droughtsinjure the tree, locusts destroy the produce, and the date crop, likemost productions which men are imprudent enough to adopt singly as thestaff of life, is often subject to complete failure.

One of the reasons for the excellence of Madinah dates is the quantityof water they obtain: each garden or field has its well; and even inthe hottest weather the Persian wheel floods the soil every third day.It has been observed that the date-tree can live in dry and barrenspots; but it loves the beds of streams and places where moisture isprocurable. The palms scattered over the other parts of the plain, anddepending solely upon rain water, produce less fruit, and that too ofan inferior quality.

Verdure is not usually wholesome in Arabia, yet invalids leave theclose atmosphere of Al-Madinah to seek health under the cool shades ofKuba. The gardens are divided by what might almost be called lanes,long narrow lines with tall reed fences on both sides. The gracefulbranches of the Tamarisk, pearled with manna, and cottoned over withdew, and the broad leaves of the castor plant, glistening in the sun,protected us from the morning

[p.404]rays. The ground on both sides of the way was sunken, the earthbeing disposed in heaps at the foot of the fences, an arrangement whichfacilitates irrigation, by giving a fall to the water, and in somecases affords a richer soil than the surface. This part of the Madinahplain, however, being higher than the rest, is less subject to thedisease of salt and nitre. On the way here and there the earth crumblesand looks dark under the dew of morning; but nowhere has it broken outinto that glittering efflorescence which denotes the last stage of theattack. The fields and gardens are divided into small oblongs,separated from one another by little ridges of mould which formdiminutive water-courses. Of the cereals there are luxuriant maize,wheat, and barley, but the latter two are in small quantities. Here andthere patches of "Barsim," or Egyptian clover, glitter brightly in thesunbeams. The principal vegetables are Badanjan (Egg-plant), theBamiyah (a kind of esculent hibiscus, called Bhendi in India), andMulukhiyah (Corchoris olitorius), a mucilaginous spinage commonthroughout this part of the East. These three are eaten by citizens ofevery rank; they are, in fact, the potatoes and the greens of Arabia. Iremarked also onions and leeks in fair quantities, a few beds ofcarrots and beans; some Fijl (radishes), Lift (turnips), gourds,cucumbers, and similar plants. Fruit trees abound. There are fivedescriptions of vines, the best of which is Al-Sharifi, a long whitegrape of a flavour somewhat resembling the produce of Tuscany.[FN#11]Next to it, and very similar, is Al-Birni. The Hijazi is a round fruit,sweet, but insipid, which is also the reproach of the Sawadi, or blackgrape. And lastly, the Raziki is a small white fruit, with a diminutivestone. The Nebek, Lote,

[p.405]or Jujube, is here a fine large tree with a dark green leaf,roundish and polished like the olive; it is armed with a short, curved,and sharp thorn,[FN#12] and bears a pale straw-coloured berry, aboutthe size of the gooseberry, with red streaks on the side next the sun.Little can be said in favour of the fruit, which has been comparedsuccessively by disappointed "Lotus eaters[FN#13]" to a bad plum, anunripe cherry, and an insipid apple. It is, however, a favourite withthe people of Al-Madinah, who have reckoned many varieties of thefruit: Hindi (Indian), Baladi ("native"), Tamri (date-like), andothers. There are a few peaches, hard like the Egyptian, and almosttasteless, fit only for stewing, but greedily eaten in a half-ripestate; large coarse bananas, lime trees, a few water-melons, figs, andapples, but neither apricots nor pears.[FN#14] There are three kinds ofpomegranates: the best is the Shami (Syrian): it is red outside, verysweet, and costs one piastre: the Turki is large, and of a whitecolour: and the Misri has a greenish rind, and a somewhat sub-acid andharsh flavour; the latter are sold at one-fourth the price of the best.I never saw in the East, except at Meccah, finer fruits than the Shami:almost stoneless like those of Maskat, they are delicately perfumed,and as large as an infant's head. Al-Madinah is celebrated, like Taif,for its "Rubb Rumman," a thick pomegranate syrup, drunk

[p.406]with water during the hot weather, and esteemed cooling andwholesome.

After threading our way through the gardens, an operation requiringless time than to describe them, we saw, peeping through the groves,Kuba's simple minaret. Then we came in sight of a confused heap of hutsand dwelling-houses, chapels and towers with trees between, and foullanes, heaps of rubbish, and barking dogs,-the usual material of aHijazi village. Having dismounted, we gave our animals in charge of adozen infant Badawin, the produce of the peasant gardeners, who shouted"Bakhshish" the moment they saw us. To this they were urged by theirmothers, and I willingly parted with a few paras for the purpose ofestablishing an intercourse with fellow-creatures so fearfully andwonderfully resembling the tailless baboon. Their bodies, unlike thoseof Egyptian children, were slim[FN#15] and straight, but their ribsstood out with curious distinctness; the colour of the skin was thatoily lamp-black seen upon the face of a European sweep; and theelf-locks, thatching the cocoa-nut heads, had been stained by the sun,wind, and rain to that reddish-brown hue which Hindu romances haveappropriated to their Rakshasas or demons. Each anatomy carried in hisarms a stark-naked miniature of himself, fierce-looking babies withfaces all eyes, and the strong little wretches were still able toextend the right hand and exert their lungs with direful clamour. Theirmothers were fit progenitors for such progeny: long, gaunt, withemaciated limbs, wall-sided, high-shouldered, and straight-backed, withpendulous bosoms, spider-like arms, and splay feet. Their longelf-locks, wrinkled faces, and high cheek-bones, their lips darker thanthe epidermis, hollow staring eyes, sparkling as if to light up theextreme

[p.407]ugliness around, and voices screaming as though in a perennialrage, invested them with all the "charms of Sycorax." These "Houris ofJahannam" were habited in long night-gowns dyed blue to conceal want ofwashing, and the squalid children had about a yard of the same materialwrapped round their waists for all toilette. This is not an overdrawnportrait of the farmer race of Arabs, the most despised by theirfellow-countrymen, and the most hard-favoured, morally as well asphysically, of all the breed.

Before entering the Mosque of Al-Kuba[FN#16] it will be necessary tocall to mind some passages of its past history. When the Apostle'sshe-camel, Al-Kaswa, as he was approaching Al-Madinah after the flightfrom Meccah, knelt down here, he desired his companions to mount theanimal. Abu Bakr and Omar[FN#17] did so; still she sat upon the ground;but when Ali obeyed the order, she arose. The Apostle bade him looseher halter, for she was directed by Allah, and the Mosque walls werebuilt upon the line over which she trod. It was the first place ofpublic prayer in Al-Islam. Mohammed laid the first brick, and with an"Anzah," or iron-shod javelin, marked out the direction ofprayer[FN#18]: each of his successors followed his example. Accordingto most historians, the

[p.408]land belonged to Abu Ayyub the Ansari, the Apostle's host; forwhich reason the "Bayt Ayyub," his descendants, still perform theservice of the Mosque, keep the key, and share with the Bawwabs, orporters, the alms and fees here offered by the Faithful. Othersdeclared that the ground was the property of one Linah, a woman who wasin the habit of tethering her ass there.[FN#19] The Apostle used tovisit it every Saturday[FN#20] on foot, and always made a point ofpraying the dawn-prayer there on the 17th Ramazan.[FN#21] A number oftraditions testify to its dignity: of these, two are especiallysignificant. The first assures all Moslems that a prayer at Kuba isequal to a Lesser Pilgrimage at Meccah in religious efficacy; and thesecond declares that such devotion is more acceptable to the Deity than